


please tell me when you find your soulmate (i need to know who's in your heart)

by atannatek



Series: please tell me about your soulmate [1]
Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, M/M, Male Friendship, Music, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25109707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atannatek/pseuds/atannatek
Summary: jae and wonpil have been friends for as long as they can remember.they're also, conveniently, each other's soulmate.
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K/Park Sungjin, Kim Wonpil/Park Jaehyung | Jae
Series: please tell me about your soulmate [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1839190
Comments: 9
Kudos: 63





	1. jae, wonpil and the perks of growing up with your soulmate (even if you don't know that detail)

**Author's Note:**

> some notes for this:  
> -i'm aware that the games/toys/cartoons mentioned are not exactly from the boys' childhood, but they were part of mine so that's why i decided to include them  
> -in this universe when you meet your soulmate a mark (like a doddle) related to that person appears in either your left or right wrist  
> -a person can also recognize that has met their soulmate because the apparition of the mark also includes a particular and sudden feeling of attachment towards the soulmate
> 
> other information about soulmates will be explained in the story as the main character learns about it (some of those facts are supposed to be of the knowledge of everyone, but you'd get later why jae doesn't know them)
> 
> this story was originally posted in my twitter acc ([@dowoonbubbles](https://twitter.com/dowoonbubbles)). you can check it out for other threadfics and social media day6 aus.

Jae thinks he’s the coolest person in his class, and he has strong evidence to support that.

First, he’s the tallest among all his classmates, which means he's the only person who can reach the highest shelves in the classroom and everyone has to ask for his help when they want to get something from there. Second, he’s always the first one to arrive to classes—he manages to wake up early very morning even if he sometimes goes to sleep past ten without his mom to realize that he keeps his PSP hidden under his pillow to play with it when he’s supposed to be already sleeping.

Third one it’s that, besides the teacher, he’s the only one with a drawing on his right wrist.

And no, this is not like the drawing Woosung made during their first day of school, when he thought he was complementing Jae’s draw by adding another doddle on his left wrist.

No, Jae has the soulmate mark.

He’s had it since before he was two years old, his mom explained him, which means that young Park Jaehyung of current seven years old has already met his soulmate (though he's only seven, and what kind of seven year old worries about the meaning of that?).

Jae really feels like the coolest person in class, because every time he tells the story when the topic of his mark comes out, there’s always someone gasping in surprise, and Jae likes to have a good audience when he talks. It makes everything more interesting.

But Jae definitely prefers Wonpil’s reaction to his stories over everyone else’s.

When he talks, Wonpil would always stare at his with his bright doe eyes with that much attention that Jae once had to stop what he was telling him about the last episode of a cartoon he was watching to ask him if he had forgotten how to blink.

Wonpil had blushed at that, and then giggle, and then he was calling Jae silly because blinking is something easy to do! How could he forget it? “I know that you’re older than me, hyung, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know things!” he had also told him. “I’m smart too!”

And Jae smiled at that—Wonpil had called him smart, and when he did, Jae felt like the smartest person in the whole world.

(Though later, when he was doing his homework and he couldn’t remember how to solve some math exercises, Jae discovered that maybe he needed to study more so he could earn that title and for Wonpil to be right—he didn’t want for Wonpil to be wrong, so Jae decided to read some extra pages asides the ones that were for homework. His mom had been surprised when she found him sitting in the table despite having his homework already done. She had also smiled —very mom alike, which is still a beautiful smile, but also very different from Wonpil’s— when Jae explained her that he was doing it for Wonpil).

(Wonpil, Jae’s neighbor that he has met since he was brought home from the hospital when he was just a baby, as both their mothers were already the type of neighbor’s friends that exchange cooking receipts and Wonpil’s mom was even there during Jae’s first year old party. Not that Jae can remember that, of course. He was only one year old! But he’s seen pictures in his photo albums of his birthday party with Wonpil’s mom helping him open a gift, and there’s one too of a two year old Jae sitting next to Wonpil’s mom who was carrying baby Wonpil in her arms).

(When Jae saw that picture, he didn’t mention to his mom how Wonpil’s doe eyes were already noticeable even if he was only a baby. His mom always smiles when Jae talks about Wonpil—and Jae likes talking about Wonpil, so that’s okay, but he didn’t mention that still. It was a bit embarrassing to admit that he liked Wonpil’s eyes that much when they were just... Well, _eyes_ ).

Wonpil would also always have a lot of questions to ask for everything that Jae tells him, and that’d make Jae continue talking to leave clear every detail Wonpil wished to know, which was nice because Jae really likes talking and Wonpil likes when his questions are properly answered.

“But what if mine doesn’t land on my card?” Wonpil asks him, just like he has asked him lots of things before. They’re at Jae’s house in that moment, playing in his room. The door is opened as is November, which means it’s cold and there’s no need to turn on the AC, so they can listen to their moms’ voices downstairs.

Jae sighs. It’s a sigh probably a little too dramatic for a seven year old, but again, there’s strong evidence behind that. And in this case it’s the fact that Jae has explained Wonpil the game three times, but he’s still not getting it!

“Those are not cards” Jae repeats, pointing to the dashboard in front of them and the brown hexagon figures that he had placed with Wonpil’s help just a few minutes ago. “Those are Bakucores” he corrects him.

Wonpil wrinkles his nose. “You called them hexagons before.”

“Because they _look_ like hexagons” Jae lifts up one to show his point. “See? They have six sides, so they’re hexagons.”

“Hexagon is a difficult word” Wonpil hums as he examines with his doe eyes the piece Jae is holding in front of his face. “You always teach me difficult things, hyung! Like this game!”

Jae feels a sense of pride invading his chest. “That’s because I’m older” he says, “I’ve lived more than you, so I know lots of difficult things.”

Wonpil frowns. “When I become older than you, I’m going to know more things than you. And they’re going to be very difficult too.”

Jae doesn’t have the chance to correct him regarding how he’s never going to be older than him because Wonpil is asking another thing about the game’s rules.

They spend who knows how much time trying to make Wonpil understand how to use the energy cards and how to identify the factions of the Bakugans (the second part was a simpler one than the first even if Wonpil said the names were difficult words too, but he just called decided to call them by the colors; so yes, relatively _simpler_ than the other).

Jae even helped Wonpil counting when they were adding the energy points! He had told him to raise his hand and then explained him how he had to put down some fingers according to the numbers that were marked in the card.

But Wonpil didn’t get it.

“This is boring, hyung!” he tells him once Jae’s done with his explanation of why he had won the first round. Wonpil’s Bakugan hadn’t even landed on a Bakucore! Though Jae had ignored that and moved the Bakugan himself so the figure could open and they could properly play.

“It’s not boring” Jae sighs. “You don’t understand it, that’s why it’s boring for you.”

Wonpil is wrinkling his nose again in a signal of displeasure—he does that a lot. It reminds Jae of a bunny. "The game at the program is interesting, this is not. It’s boring!”

Wonpil’s mom doesn’t allow him to watch the television that much, which means that Wonpil has never watched Bakugan, but he knows enough from Jae to make the comparison.

“Let’s just play another thing” Jae decides to say for Wonpil to stop complaining. The boy claps amused, and even if he’s wearing a sweater, the movement causes the sleeves to slightly go down his arm, which allows Jae to notice the drawing on one of Wonpil’s wrists.

He also has it, Jae knows that. He has actually known it since a lot of time ago, considering that he and Wonpil are that close because of their mom’s friendship and have grown up practically together.

(Though again, Jae's seven and Wonpil is five, and they don't really care about the meaning of it).

That’s another evidence to support his self-proclaimed title as the coolest person in his class, Jae decides. His best friend might be two years younger than him, but he already has the soulmate mark too.

Even if they don't care about it, Jae knows having it is a big deal, which is cool.

Jae thinks Wonpil’s cool because of that. Even if his bright doe eyes may fit a different description like cute, as he’s usually called by Jae’s mom.

Wonpil notices him staring, and he stops clapping. He’s wrinkling his nose—yup, Jae decides. Definitely a bunny.

“Do I have something in my face, hyung?” Wonpil asks, and he seems genuinely terrified.

Jae laughs for his reaction. Such a five year old thing, uh. “When you go to school you’re going to be the coolest person in your class, Wonpil-ah” he says between the chuckles.

Wonpil’s mouth opens in surprise. His doe eyes are wide opened too. “Do you really think that, hyung?” he asks excitedly.

Jae nods, “Yes, just like me.”

“But hyung, you’re so cool!” Wonpil is pouting. “Are you sure I’m going to be like that too?”

Jae smiles at that— Wonpil just called him cool and Jae was already aware of that (he’s the tallest of his class, the first student to be in the classroom, he has his own soulmate mark…), but when Wonpil did it, Jae felt like the coolest person in the whole world.

Some days later, he tries to teach Wonpil how to play Yu-gi-oh. Wonpil doesn’t understand it either, and he finds it even more boring because they’re only using cards this time.

(He also, apparently, prefers Bakugan’s storyline than Yu-gi-oh’s. They argue about that, actually, because Wonpil is his best friend and Jae is worried about him!— _Yu-gi-oh is clearly superior!_ But Wonpil won’t get that because he doesn’t watch it either).

Wonpil only stops complaining when Jae teaches him how they can use cards to build a castle with them (or rather a small tower, considering they're bad at that). Jae cringes as he sees Wonpil folding his Yu-gi-oh cards to prove how they can curve a little to form the towers.

But Wonpil is smiling, even if they’re just forming small towers and not the castle that Jae had promised him, and he’s calling Jae the coolest and smartest, and he keeps making questions about what other things Jae knows because he wants to know them too.

Jae guesses he can ask for a new deck of Yu-gi-oh cards for his next birthday.

Wonpil’s first day of school is a little weird day for Jae. Which is weird for itself, as it’s not Jae’s first day of school and it’s weird that he’s feeling weird about something he shouldn’t even be feeling weird about.

It’s _so_ weird.

Wonpil is excited about it—he starts talking about his first day of school even from months before, and he makes all those questions for Jae about school no matter if he is attending a different one than Jae (which Jae doesn’t understand why—his school is nice!).

But, according to Jae’s mom, both Wonpil’s parents went to that other school and they met there, so they consider it a sweet detail that Wonpil would go there too. Wonpil thinks that’s also sweet, which had made Jae groaned because yes, it’s sweet, but that means they won’t have lunch together and that Wonpil won’t meet Jae’s friends and that Jae friends’ won’t ever be able to see Wonpil’s mark on his wrist.

As Wonpil is excited, Jae (he doesn't want to admit it out loud) naturally feels excited too and he talks a lot about how are his own classes to him, and how Wonpil needs to make sure to sit in the first row near the board because maybe as for Jae, what’s written there might be a little blurry.

When the day comes, Jae feels weird. _Really_ weird. _So_ weird.

It’s his first day on his third year, and he’s having a new teacher and moving to a new classroom in the second floor of a different building, so Jae attributes to that the knot that has been in his stomach since he went to sleep last night—the knot that had appeared in the moment his mom started explaining, while they had Jae’s favorite dinner, how Wonpil’s school is located on the other side of the city.

Jae doesn’t exactly know how far Wonpil’s school is, but his mom remarked that is really far away when Jae’d asked her if that means that she won’t take him to see Wonpil at the end of his classes so they can go together and eat ice cream like Jae had promised him they would do.

He suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore. Jae couldn’t finish his dinner even if it was his favorite and his mom only cooked that in special occasions. When his mom asked him about why he was suddenly looking distressed, he told her about how his stomach has started to ache. 

That morning he sees Wonpil leaving his house, wearing his new uniform and with his yellow backpack. There’s actually an interesting story related to Wonpil’s backpack. Jae smiles just by remembering it, but his smile is quickly replaced by a grimace when he looks at his garden.

He is now supposed to clean it when he returns from school—none of his parents have asked him for his help yet, but Jae better starts to do it that day anyways if he wants to save enough money to buy Wonpil what he has promised him (he really makes a lot of promises for Wonpil, doesn't he? Though that's how things are supposed to be; Jae's the older between the two, so if one of the both is making a promise, it must be him).

Wonpil waves a hand joyfully on Jae’s direction when he spots him on the entrance of his own house.

“Hyung!” Wonpil comes closer to him. It’s early for Jae, but he doesn’t know how early is that for Wonpil considering that Jae’s school is only some blocks away and it doesn’t take him too much time to arrive to it. “It’s my first day! Mom took a picture of me because it’s my first day!”

Jae remembers his first day picture. He was crying. But that’s not Wonpil’s case, obviously. “First days are important, Piri” he reminds him. “You have to sit on the first row and make friends. No one knows anyone on a first day, so that’s an advantage you have to use.”

“I know, hyung!” Wonpil nods. “We went through everything yesterday. I’m ready!”

That’s true. Before dinner, before the weird feeling in his stomach started, Jae had gone to Wonpil’s house and they both have reviewed all of Jae’s advices.

“Remember to show them your mark” Jae repeats. “You’re going to be the coolest kid there with that.”

Wonpil wrinkles his nose. He doesn’t like when Jae calls him a kid, but he’s six, of course he’s a kid.

“What if someone else has it too?” Wonpil asks him carefully.

Jae frowns. He hadn’t thought on that, “It doesn’t matter, Piri” he says with security. “You’re going to be the coolest kid anyways.”

Wonpil’s doe eyes are shining. “I just want to be cool like you, hyung!”

Before Jae can reply, Wonpil’s mom calls for him. She is telling him to hurry up or else they’re going to be late.

Jae watches Wonpil get into his mom’s car with another wave of hand. He’s still smiling, playing with the straps of his yellow backpack.

He didn’t remember the knot in his stomach until Wonpil is gone—he feels weird again. So weird.

It gets weirder when Jae is in his dad’s car, on his way to his own school. Jae puts a hand over his stomach. It’s hurting.

“Are you okay?” his mom asks him from the front sit. Jae recognizes a hint of worry on her voice, like in all those times when Jae would fall down playing.

Jae purses his lips together to control himself from pulling out a grimace. He doesn’t want for her to be worried. She already gave him all that talk the night before about Wonpil going to a different school than his (something that Jae still doesn’t understand _why_ —did she just want to remember him about how because of that he and Wonpil won’t ever have lunch together at school and how Jae’s friends won’t ever meet him?).

“I think it was something I ate yesterday, mom" he simply says.

He lowers his head when the pain becomes more noticeable and he can't hide anymore a grimace. Jae thinks he recognizes the feeling—it was like that time when he had a food poisoning with fish and he stayed on bed during a whole day. It must be that.

His head remains in that position until they arrive to the school, which means that Jae doesn’t notice the look that his parents exchange between them.

“I will tell your teacher you’re not feeling well” his mom says. Jae groans at that, but he doesn’t complain because his stomach keeps hurting, and maybe it's a good idea for his new teacher to be aware of that in case the pain grows.

Jae sighs —a little bit too dramatically for an eight year old— as he sees his mom asking to have a word with his new teacher. The teacher is quite young, and he smiles sympathetically towards Jae when his mom begins to explain that it’s an important matter.

Jae doesn’t get to listen to nothing of what his mom tells to the teacher, because as soon as she's about to speak, Woosung is dragging him inside the classroom, already muttering something about his holidays.

This is what happened in the incident with Wonpil’s backpack, approximately a month before his first day of classes.

It begins with Wonpil shoving something on Jae’s face.

Jae only sees a yellow blur before he’s falling backwards to the floor, groaning when he hits his head. He then listens to Wonpil’s whines behind the _unknown-yellow-thing_ Jae still has over his face before Wonpil finally decides to take it away.

Luckily, Jae was already sitting in the floor, so his head hurts, but at least he’s sure it wasn’t lethal. He can hear his mom’s voice asking if everything is fine upstairs, to which Jae replies that it was only his box of toys the one that fell down and caused that noise.

He sits down slowly, patting his head to check if there isn’t blood. Usually, when Jae falls down and hurts something, the first thing his mom would do is check if there’s blood. When there wasn’t blood, after helping him to stand up, she would smile kindly to Jae, very mom-alike, and tell him in a sweet voice that he was going to be fine because there’s nothing to worry about.

But the times that there had been blood… Jae remembers the bandages and his mom also smiling, though her smile was different. It was obvious that she was worried on those cases.

Worried like Wonpil is right now, sitting in front of Jae and with his eyes full with tears.

Jae groans at that when he notices it—Wonpil is crying. Jae really hates when Wonpil cries because Jae never knows what to do to stop it and he doesn’t want to cry in front of Wonpil like he had ended up doing all those other times out of frustration.

Wonpil’s face is all red and he’s now closing his eyes, not seeing Jae and how he’s showing him his clean fingers after he touched his head, demonstrating that there’s no blood, so he shouldn’t be worried about anything!

“Piri” Jae calls him by the nickname that he made for him after Wonpil insisted in having a nickname to be as cool as Jae who is only called Jae by his friends at school, not Jaehyung. But Wonpil is ignoring him, crying. “Piri, don’t cry please” Jae pleads.

“It was my fault, hyung!” it’s barely understandable between Wonpil’s sniffles. “I’m sorry!”

“Yes, it was your fault” Jae recognizes, because it’s the truth, but that has the complete opposite effect that Jae expected, as Wonpil stops crying for a few seconds only to stare at him with his guilty doe eyes and them return to his whining and his eyes are closed again. “But I’m not hurt!” Jae adds quickly. Oh _no, no, no._ He can feel them—the tears are also coming out of his own eyes. He blinks to keep them away. Jae’s older than Wonpil, he already has eight years; he can’t be crying! “I’m fine! But you have to open your eyes to see it!” Wonpil shakes his head at his words. “Piri, you have to see me!”

“No! I don’t want to see you because it was my fault that you hit your head! And that you lied to your mom about it!”

“Piri, shh!” Jae hushes him, glancing at the opened door. He hopes his mom didn’t listen that. Jae is aware that lying is a bad thing and he wouldn't have lied to his mom if it wasn't for Wonpil, “I’m fine, I promise. Just open your eyes.”

Wonpil shakes his head again.

“Not even if I say please?” Jae tries once more. He keeps blinking to get rid of the tears. “Pleaseee, Piri” he continues with a high pitched voice, no matter if Wonpil didn’t give him a proper answer. “Do it for me.”

It somehow works—there’s an unexpected giggle between Wonpil’s cries.

He opens one of his eyes, covering the other with one of his hands. Jae raises his hand, “See? There’s no blood, which means I’m fine. Mom always says that.”

Wonpil is wrinkling his nose. Jae can notice that even if part of his hand is also covering it. “Are you sure, hyung?”

Jae nods, “Very sure.”

“But you did that sound… It means it hurt you anyways!”

He isn’t going to tell Wonpil about how his head in fact still hurts. Jae’s older. And from Wonpil’s perspective he’s the coolest person he knows—he _needs_ to protect his reputation, just like he did it when he got rid of those tears before Wonpil could see them.

“I was surprised, that was it” Jae lies. And yes, he knows lying is wrong, and he doesn't personally like lying to others, but the expression of relief that shows Wonpil is enough to clear his conscience.

Wonpil puts down his hand, and he’s once again holding the yellow object that had caused everything. Now that it’s not on his face, Jae recognizes it as a mere backpack.

“Oh, you were surprised because of this!” Wonpil announces. There’s a hint of pride on Wonpil’s voice, very similar to the one Jae shows around him. Jae smiles pleased at that—Wonpil is _definitely_ going to be the coolest person in his class. “It’s my new backpack for school!”

It’s a simple solid yellow backpack, with tiny pockets on its sides. It's very small, which means that he can only save a couple of notebooks there and that Wonpil would have to carry a lunch bag for his food.

Small, like Wonpil. It matches him.

Wonpil then tells Jae that he asked his parents to buy one with a Bakugan draw and how they had denied his petition and asked him how he even knew what that was if they didn’t allow him to watch those kinds of things on the television. But he hadn’t been a snitch and confessed about Jae telling him about them and even showing him some of the episodes when Wonpil visited him—he had kept the secret!

“Your birthday is in a few months” Jae says thoughtfully when Wonpil is done with his explanation, to which Wonpil nods. “I promise you I’m going to get you one for that day.”

Wonpil’s bright doe eyes are filled with excitement, “Are you being serious, hyung? But… You don’t have money!”

Jae rolls his eyes. The answer for that is too obvious, but Wonpil is only six, and he still doesn't understand as many things as Jae already does. He's too young, “I’m going to clean the garden. Mom always gives me money when I do that.”

Wonpil offers his help to clean the garden, which Jae denies. It’s going to be his gift and Wonpil doesn’t need to do anything.

“I don’t know what to get for your birthday, hyung” Wonpil tells him after claiming that his Jae hyung is the best hyung in the world!

(Jae smiles happily at that. Of course he’s the best hyung. Wonpil deserves it).

“You don’t have to give me anything, Wonpil-ah” that’s another lie. Technically, Wonpil should replace the deck of Yu-gi-oh cards that he’s ruined a few months ago, but Jae already told about that to his mom and he has a new package since months ago.

Wonpil is pouting, “I’m going to get something for you, hyung! And it’s going to be the best present because you’re the best hyung!”

Jae’s smile grows to the point his cheeks hurt.

Jinyoung is all what Wonpil’s been talking about in the last days.

Jinyoung, the boy from his class that’s his new friend. Jinyoung, who isn’t as tall as Jae, but he’s still taller than Wonpil anyways, so he helps him whenever he can’t grab things from the high classroom’s shelves.

Jae already knows that Jinyoung birthday is on September the twenty second, that his favorite colors are white and blue and that he likes reading. Jinyoung is also attending Japanese and English lessons, and he has a cat that is currently sick.

Wonpil really talks _a lot_ about Jinyoung.

Jae and Wonpil see each other less time than before as now Wonpil also goes to school and has his own homework to do, but Wonpil mostly uses their time together to tell him whatever thing he did that day with Jinyoung at school.

Jae thinks that’s almost as horrible as the constant stomachaches he’s been having since school started.

No— the teas he has to drink to feel better are _worse_ than any of that. They don’t even have sugar! But his mom refuses to take him to the medic even if Jae, using all the sense of mature of an eight year old, has insisted in going. She says that the teas are enough, but Jae’s stomachaches continue.

When he’s on school and asks for permission to go to the infirmary, the teacher always says no too. According to him, Jae’s mom already explained “his situation”, and he instead gives him permission to drink tea from the thermos that his mom prepares him daily. Now, that probably can count as another reason of why Jae is the coolest person in class. According to the teacher, he can drink from his thermos whenever he feels that the pain is too strong, no matter if they’re in the middle of a lesson.

But Jae still doesn’t like those teas, even if he pretends he enjoys them when his classmates stare at him with surprise any time he pulls his thermos out of his backpack and drinks from it while they’re supposed to be reading or answering an exam.

And he still doesn’t like Wonpil speaking about Jinyoung.

Jae used to be the one who spoke a lot between the two, but now Wonpil always wants to speak and he doesn’t listen to Jae anymore or makes his detailed questions that Jae enjoyed answering—all he wants to do now is speak about Jinyoung!

Jae doesn’t want to listen about what happened to Jinyoung ‘s cat. He wants to tell Wonpil about the last episode of Bakugan and play with him even if Wonpil doesn’t understand the rules of most games, so Jae would end up adapting them for him to at least win one time… Jae wants everything to be like it used to.

"Jinyoung is going to play the piano!" Wonpil keeps telling Jae about him and nothing is like before. Maybe Jae is wrong and listening to Wonpil praising Jinyoung is worse than the stomachaches and the teas. "And guess what, hyung? I'm going to do it too!"

Jae frowns. Wonpil never mentioned anything about liking the piano before. "Uh, Piri, what do you mean with that?"

"Jinyoung is going to start attending a piano academy!" Wonpil explains. He's all a big smile and bright doe eyes only that this time Jae isn't the reason of it. “And I’m going too!” he continues. “I told my mom about it and she was so happy, hyung! My lessons start next week, which means I’m gonna know how to play the piano next week!” Wonpil’s cheeks are tinging in red because he’s talking nonstop. “My dad is buying me a keyboard to practice at home too!” he says. “That means I’m gonna show you everything that I learn and I can even teach you!” his little mouth opens in a surprised gesture. “I can be your piano teacher, hyung!”

Wonpil going to the piano academy means even less time with him on the afternoons.

He arrives home later, and when Jae asks Wonpil’s mom if he can come to his house, the usual answer is that Wonpil is still working on his homework or practicing for his next piano lesson.

So Jae, being the smart and mature eight years old he is, comes up with the most logical solution.

One night, as he’s having dinner with his parents he clears his throat like he has seen his dad do many times before giving a speech in those fancy parties from the company he works into and that Jae has gone too because they were family events. Once he has his parents looking at him in confusion, he says it: “I think I want to take piano lessons.”

His dad coughs. Jae thinks that’s a terrible reaction because he’s doing his best to keep a straight face to show his seriousness, but his dad is coughing and his mom is simply startled.

“Is it that bad?” Jae asks, now he being the one confused. Wonpil told him his parents were excited, but Jae’s look terrified.

“No, it’s not that” his mom begins saying. His dad is still coughing. “It’s just something…” she seems to be searching for the right words, “Unexpected.”

“I thought all you like to do was playing with that thing and watching TV” his dad finally speaks. ‘That thing’ is Jae’s PSP. He always forgets the name. “But piano?”

Jae purses his lips at the accusation. “Wonpil’s going to lessons too” he decides to say.

His mom and dad exchange a look. They’re doing that strange thing of communicating with their minds, Jae notices. When he asked once about it when he was younger, his dad had told him it was part of the soulmates perks (whatever that really means…?).

“So you want to take piano lessons because Wonpil does that too?” his dad starts, slowly.

_No_ , Jae wants to correct him. _I want to take piano lessons because Wonpil is spending more time with Jinyoung than with me. And we barely play anymore together._

Jae nods, “Piri inspired me.”

“He really did?” his mom is raising a brow. Jae presses his hands into fits over his chair so one notices it. He sometimes hates when his mom is so smart; she clearly knows Jae is lying.

“Yup” Jae doesn’t give up. “He says his lessons are super fun.”

“You barely like your own classes” his dad huffs. He’s smiling, which means he’s joking, but that still has Jae pulling a grimace out of indignation.

“Piano lessons are different than normal classes, dad” he tells him. “You play piano there, not learn about geography.”

Jae hates geography. He hasn’t been able to memorize the location of the rivers on the country like he’s supposed to do for his next test, but he won’t let his dad know that.

“But you still have to study” his dad says. “You hate studying.”

He’s right. Jae definitely hates it.

“It’d be a responsibility for you” his mom continues. It’s like if their words are matched—if Jae asks about it, his dad would probably repeat the thing of the soulmates perks. “But if you really want it, I can ask Haeun for the number of the academy where Wonpil goes.”

Jae nods enthusiastically. Was it that easy? It’s obvious neither his mom nor his dad believe his sudden interest in piano, but even with that, his dad agrees to the suggestion and the dinner continues with them discussing who would drive him to his lessons once they start.

Days later, during his first piano day and when Jae meets the teacher, he understands why his parents easily said yes. Jae’s usual free afternoons are now spent with him reviewing rhythmic exercises and he’s sure he has nightmares related to quarters and staff’s lines.

They clearly didn’t care that Jae was lying as long as he did something different than his usual calm afternoon activities. It has been a trap!

Jae always knew his parents hated to see him playing with his PSP.

Wonpil is still pouting every time Jae shows up in his door, ready to go to their piano lessons, as their parents have made an agreement to drive them to the academy in turns.

But Jae is not worried about Wonpil’s reaction, as he already knows the reason behind his mood.

He had wanted to teach personally Jae piano, but he can’t do that if Jae is also going to the classes. “I told you I could be your teacher” Wonpil had complained during Jae’s first day in the piano lessons. “Don’t you trust in me to teach you, hyung?”

That day, as Jae’s mom was driving them there, Jae had looked at her in a pleading way. And she was smiling, raising a brow for Jae from the review mirror. That was a betrayal!

“I... I trust in you, Piri” Jae had mumbled, suddenly embarrassed. He was aware he was surely blushing. “You know a lot of things, you’ve told me about them.”

“Then why?” Wonpil had crossed his arms over his chest.

Jae looked to the window to avoid meeting Wonpil’s bright doe eyes and also his mom’s, because that was him admitting he had lied to her and his dad when lying was wrong. “I just wanted to spend more time to you. I’ve missed you.”

He didn’t expect Wonpil to begin crying his name and hug him—if it could even be called a hug the fact that Wonpil was stretching his arm as much as the seat belt allowed him to put it over Jae’s chest. “Hyung!” he had told him. “I’ve missed you too!”

Jae kept watching through the window. He didn’t mind Wonpil hugging him, or being clingy in general, but his mom was there, and he was aware she was paying attention to their interaction despite her humming the song that was currently playing on the radio.

That was also the reason why he didn’t mention Jinyoung in that moment. His mom would probably be disappointed if she found out Jae had also acted out of jealousy.

“We’re gonna have so much fun together!” Wonpil continued, doing his best to squeeze Jae more in an embrace. “I hope we’re in the same class!”

“Same class?” that had made Jae looked at his mom again. No one had told him about that! She seemed to be surprised too, “How many classes are there?”

“Five!” Wonpil answered, clearly proud of knowing something Jae didn’t. “Jinyoung and I are in one together. I told you that, right? We’re assigned to them according to our age.”

Turns out, Jae is too old to be in Wonpil’s class. That’s why Wonpil keeps pouting every time they go to the academy together—Jae attending a senior class (that’s not even the official name of it because there’s not official name, but Wonpil _insists_ in using it) means that he knows more than Wonpil and then Wonpil can’t teach him anything new.

The only interesting thing from the piano classes that Jae's been attending for four entire years by now, considering that he doesn’t even see Wonpil in the academy as they keep being in separated lessons as they grow up (the system hates Jae!), is the teacher’s son, Sungjin.

Sungjin is only some months younger than him, and he also dislikes playing the piano as Jae has discovered he does too since his very first lessons.

Their mutual aversion towards their classes and their common situation of having someone they care too much like to stop pretending they enjoy them are what make them become friends easily (plus, Sungjin also has his own soulmate mark when Jae meets him. He’s cool! Even if he’s not excited an inch like Jae about having it, and he simply shrugs when Jae calls him cool because of that).

When they turn twelve, Sungjin and Jae are finally allowed to spend their fifteen minutes of break from their lessons outside the classroom. That gives them the enough freedom to eventually decide to go wandering outside the building in that time.

They normally go to the music store that it’s crossing the street in front of the academy. The owner there, Junseok, has known Sungjin since he was a kid—something related to his mom being a music teacher well known in town—, and he always allows them to see the guitars he sells.

Sungjin is good at playing the guitar; he confesses Jae that Junseok was the one who taught him how to do it correctly after he noticed some of Sungjin’s bad habits that he had picked up after watching Youtube tutorials to learn how to play the instrument.

Jae discovers that he isn’t that bad either when it comes to the guitar when he also starts taking short lessons from Junseok. The man even tells him he has a nice voice when he once catches him singing at the store. “You should go to vocal lessons or something like that if you want to continue with music and you don’t like piano” Junseok suggests to Jae one day. “I’ve told the same to Sungjin, but he’s…”

“But I’m stubborn” Sungjin completes the phrase for him. “It’s more like I don’t want to break my mom’s heart, Junseok-ssi” he adds. Jae notices the way his eyes land momentarily on the mark in his wrist. It’s an odd reaction. “I’ve already done that a lot.”

“How did you break your mom’s heart with your soulmate mark?” Jae asks directly once Junseok is back to the main counter, attending a couple that just entered to the store asking for a violin bow.

Jae’s not used to being the one making the questions; usually, he has Wonpil for that (or rather _had…?_ Wonpil still spends most of his time with Jinyoung but at least he talks about other persons too and not only him), or his classmates, that are still fascinated with his mark and his special permissions.

Sungjin frowns. “You’re so straightforward” he says.

Jae nods at that as if it was a compliment, “That was what I was trying?”

"Good job them” Sungjin scowls back. He doesn’t seem upset or bothered for the question, though. They’ve been friends for years now, so Jae is pretty good at reading Sungjin’s expressions.

“Then?” Jae questions, a brow rose in expectation.

“She doesn’t like who’s my soulmate” Sungjin mutters, and for an instance Jae is confused if he heard it correctly. He is also confused because Sungjin’s cheeks have started to turn red, and it’s really weird when Sungjin blushes (usually it’s only the sun that causes his cheeks to be blushing and in most cases also sunburns because his skin is quite delicate).

“She’s older than you?” Jae asks the first thing that comes to his mind. He once heard his mom complaining about the difference between a couple's ages with his dad. She has used the words ‘taking advantage from someone’ in an angry voice, so Jae knows that’s a bad thing.

Sungjin neck is now red too. Is summer, and he’s wearing a shirt a bigger size than his normal clothes, so Jae can easily notice that too for the way it loses over his body. “He’s a year younger than me, actually.”

Jae swallows. _Oh_. He understood that clearly.

“Cool. What’s his name?” he tries to continue the conversation, pretending not to be shocked to the fact that Sungjin’s soulmate is a boy. Jae didn’t know that was possible, but he’s not asking Sungjin that because it'd be rude. Maybe his mom can answer that to him later.

Sungjin huffs at him. Jae is bad at lying, that’s why he tries not to do it so often. But this one is a desperate case. He _needed_ to lie.

It’s like all those times he has told Wonpil that he doesn’t sleep anymore hugging the pink bunny pushy that he got for Jae’s ninth birthday (the same year Jae worked for months cleaning his garden to buy him the Bakugan backpack Wonpil wanted)—when he in fact _does_. And Wonpil knows that because Jae’s a bad liar; though Jae would never ever admit it out loud. He’s twelve, he shouldn’t be sleeping with a pushy that his best friend got for him when he was nine.

“Younghyun” Sungjin answers anyways. “He goes to my school.”

Jae nods at that information. Sungjin is in the same school as Wonpil and Jinyoung, so there’s a chance Wonpil knows Younghyun too.

“It’s a pretty name” Jae smiles awkwardly, without knowing what else to say.

Sungjin laughs at that. “Don’t make it weird, please.”

“I’m not…” Jae is now the one blushing. “I’m not making it weird!”

"You _are_ ” Sungjin insists. “Everyone does the same, don’t worry. I’m used to it.”

Jae decides to stay quiet. He scratches the back of his head, thinking on a way to say something to comfort Sungjin. But he’s always been bad at it; even if Wonpil doesn’t cry that often anymore, Jae still didn’t know what to say when during his first piano recital he cried because he had made a mistake.

“I assume yours is a girl” Sungjin speaks before Jae can come up with a bad advice. “Your soulmate” Sungjin clarifies when he notices Jae’s confused grimace.

“Ah” Jae grins at that, “I actually have no idea.”

Sungjin is frowning, “But you said you’ve had the mark since you were two.”

“I wasn’t two yet” Jae corrects him.

“We’re talking about ten years ago!”

“Yes, Sungjin, I can count too.”

“You’re not even curious, are you?” Sungjin scoffs. He does that a lot.

Jae suddenly feels embarrassed. The soulmate thing is clearly significant for Sungjin, even if he hasn’t said it out loud. It’s actually important for lots of persons, but it has never been like that for Jae. He brags about having the mark, right, and he’s still the only person in his classroom with it which is cool! — And that’s all he cares about it. He’s never really thought deeply on its meaning.

“I was a baby, how would I know it?” he says back in an attempt to justify himself. “Maybe it was just someone I met in the street when I was with my mom or my dad” he continues, shrugging. “Who knows?”

Sungjin squints at him, “But you’ve never complain about the pain.”

“The pain?” Jae frowns.

“The pain that causes being away from your soulmate?” Sungjin pulls out a grimace. This time, Jae can’t say if he’s either impressed or indignant. “You really have no idea about soulmates, don’t you?” Jae doesn’t answer, expecting to keep his pride intact. “Are you sure you have a soulmate and you don’t draw that to yourself every morning?” Sungjin points at his wrist.

Jae groans, “Sungjin. _Don’t_.”

“What?” Sungjin looks at him teasingly.

“We were talking about Younghyun!”

“Yeah” Sungjin is blushing again, but he’s playing it cool, better than how Jae does, “but that was like ages ago, now we’re talking about your lack of knowledge in—“

“Our fifteen minutes are almost over!” Jae interrupts him, standing up. He leaves the guitar he barely played in the counter where Junseok keeps them in exhibition. “We better go back before they come to find us!”

Sungjin scoffs (he really does that a lot), but he follows Jae as he walks out of the store. “You’re a terrible liar.”

“Who do you think is your soulmate?”

Perhaps Jae shouldn’t have asked that while he and Wonpil are in the middle of a race in Mario Kart, because as soon as he mentions the question, Toad (Wonpil’s character) falls from the rainbow bridge they’re crossing.

He’s in the last place after that; Jae’s in third, with Luigi and Yoshi in front of him. Wonpil whines.

It’s Saturday, which means they don’t have to go to any class today and they’re in Wonpil’s room playing with the Wii he got as a birthday present two years ago, after somehow convincing his parents to buy it for him. Being Saturday it also means that Jae has been thinking on that topic since Wednesday, when he had that conversation with Sungjin.

“Why are you asking that, hyung?” Wonpil answers after some seconds. Jae can’t look at him directly as he’s focusing so bad in getting into first place. He’s already in second now.

“Everyone talks about soulmates” Jae shrugs it off.

But he’s bad at lying, and of course Wonpil notices it. “Not everyone does it, hyung.”

“Well, most people—“

“Not you!” Wonpil accuses him.

Jae groans. He’s on third place again.

He’s also blushing because he feels embarrassed, but ending up in third place is probably worse. “I’m curious” he admits, not looking at Wonpil even if the race is over. “Sungjin asked me about it some days ago.”

“I know Sungjin’s sunbae soulmate! He goes to my school!” Wonpil exclaims proudly. That detail from him hasn’t changed that much—he’s still always proud when he knows something Jae doesn’t. “It’s Younghyun sunbaenim! He’s so nice!”

So Jae was right about Wonpil knowing him. “And don’t you think it’s strange?” he asks slowly, playing with the control in his hands.

Wonpil hums, “You mean that he’s a boy and Sungjin sunbae too?”

Jae suddenly feels the room is too hot. He bets his ears are red. “I think it’s nice that Sungjin sunbae and Younghyun sunbaenim are soulmates!” Wonpil continues saying. “They always sit together to have lunch! I don’t see any problem with them.”

“So you wouldn’t mind if your soulmate is a boy?” Jae cringes at his own words. He knows how bad that sounded, but he really hasn’t stop thinking on the topic since his conversation with Sungjin. He didn’t dare to ask it to his mom as he had planned, though. He was scared of her reaction at it.

What if Jae’s soulmate is also a… Boy?

What if she acted like Sungjin’s mom at it?

He squirms at the thought, just like he’s been doing it for nights.

Jae’s still not looking at Wonpil as he speaks, “Well, if someone it’s my soulmate then it means he’s the person that was like, born for me, right?” Jae nods. He doesn’t know if that’s the actual description of the concept, but it seems right. “I don’t see any problem then.”

Jae finally gathers the enough courage to glance at his friend. “No matter who is it?”

“No matter what!” Wonpil has a big smile on his face.

Jae is too easily grinning with that. Wonpil wouldn't judge him if his soulmate is a boy. That detail somehow makes Jae feels at ease. If he feels relief with it, he thinks he should then tell the same to Sungjin the next time they see each other.

“Even if it was… Umh” Jae puts one of his hands on his chin, pretending to be deep in thought, “Seojun?”

Wonpil whines, moving to be able to hit Jae playfully in the shoulder. “Hyung, you’re only saying that because you know that I think Seojun is evil!”

Seojun is one of Wonpil’s classmates from his piano lessons. He’s the annoying boy who thinks too high of himself because he’s the best student in his class, which is also Wonpil’s class. Wonpil has told him before that Seojun usually teases him and that makes him feel bad.

“I wanted to prove my point!” Jae argues back.

Wonpil glares at him. Jae frowns. There’s something off with Wonpil’s expression— “That was mean!” his friend says before throwing himself at Jae, and then, he’s tickling him in the stomach.

“Piri, stop!” Jae can barely speak between his laughs.

“You were mean, hyung!” Wonpil simply says.

“But you said you would like your soulmate no matter why!” Jae stutters in chuckles.

“Mentioning Seojun was still rude!”

“You’re being rude right now too!”

Wonpil’s tickling stops only then. He seems to be considering Jae’s statement. “I wouldn’t mind if Seojun was my soulmate” he says at the end, as he moves away from Jae and sits next to him. “Happy?”

Jae nods as he also sits down properly again. Wonpil purses his lips together as soon as he does that, watching him thoughtfully. Before Jae can ask anything, Wonpil is passing a hand over Jae’s hair, combing it. “Sorry for that, hyung, but I promise you look good now!” he says one he’s done with Jae’s hair.

He’s beaming brightly, but this time, Jae can’t return the gesture. He feels far too guilty for a thought that crosses his mind in that instant like to do that.

“If you could choose who” Jae can’t avoid asking. He tries to hide his nervousness by taking once again the Wii control and starting another race. Wonpil makes a sound of surprise when the race starts, taking his own control in a quick movement. “Who would you choose, Piri?”

He doesn’t see Wonpil’s reaction to his question. Jae’s in first place right now.

“Who what, hyung?”

Jae is in second place. He could have done that turn better. “Who is your soulmate" he completes his question, swallowing.

He notices Toad falling from another bridge. “Someone nice, not like Seojun” Wonpil hums. “Someone… Someone cool!” he also adds. “Like you, or Jinyoung, or even Sungjin sunbae!” Wonpil is in last place. He’s really bad playing Mario Kart. “And you, hyung? Who would you choose?”

Donkey Kong, Jae’s character, also falls from a bridge. Jae is blushing right now. It had been so easy for Wonpil to say it, so he does his best to reply, “I guess that someone like you would be fine, Piri” he groans, watching how Donkey Kong falls from another bridge. "I mean” he's stuttering and it's awkward “You’re nice.”

Wonpil giggles, “Thanks, hyung” he says. “I think you’re nice too!”

When the race finishes, the first thing Jae does is to glance at Wonpil. He’s whining because he lost, but he isn’t blushing or looking embarrassed at all.

“I can’t wait to really meet my soulmate!” Wonpil adds, surprising Jae with his comment. “I already have the mark, but really knowing my soulmate will be so cool! I really hope that my soulmate is as cool as you, hyung.”

Jae smiles softly. “You deserve the best soulmate, Piri.”

“So as you, hyung!” his doe eyes are bright, like they always have been.

(And why does Jae even know that?)

The thing about the soulmate marks is that they’re not something clear.

It’s not like if Jae has the drawing of a star or any other figure or word or numbers he can describe right away. The mark is instead a black line that curves itself in the form of something related to the person’s soulmate. Jae’s mom has a moon, because that’s the meaning of his dad’s name; and Jae’s dad has a cloud, which surely represents the fact that Jae's mom’s name means ‘sky’.

Even after his parents explained Jae how to see the figures on their wrists when he’d asked about it (‘ _see? That part is one side of a cloud, and if you follow that line you’ll see how it closes the drawing…’_ ), Jae can barely see anything logical in there when he peaks sometimes.

Soulmate marks are complicated.

Even in his own case it’s the same. Jae has had that mark for more than ten years, and he’s still not sure of what it is! Until some days ago, he hadn't really cared about it, but now that he does, it's completely frustrating.

That night, when he’s on his bed after spending the whole afternoon playing with Wonpil on his house on another of their free days, Jae tries once again to find something on it, but he can’t.

According to his mom, soulmate marks are difficult to interpret because a person doesn’t need to worry about what they are as they show only once you’ve met your soulmate, and because you’re aware of that moment, as you supposedly feel something, the shape of a mark lacks importance.

It was a sweet way to view it, Jae admits. Though in cases like Jae’s, when he surely met his soulmate by accident when he was too young to catch what that feeling his mom was talking about was, it sucks.

He wonders if Wonpil can say what his mark shows. Or Sungjin. Or even that boy Younghyun.

Jae groans, deciding to go to sleep once he feels his eyes are closing out of tiredness. He’s been doing the same for days now, and he’s almost sure he can draw his own soulmate mark even without having to see it because he’s memorized it.

That’s probably the reason why Jae dreams he’s still examining it, except that the mark is not in his wrist, but drawn in a big white piece of paper in front of him. For an instance, in his dream, Jae finally thinks he catches a glimpse of a figure. It’s… It’s like a small animal. It has four legs—

But when Jae wakes up, all he remembers is dreaming about Wonpil’s bright doe eyes staring at him.

Jae doesn’t know why (or he rather does but won’t ever admit it), but a few days later, instead of going with Sungjin to Junseok’s store during their break, he’s dragging his friend to the classroom where Wonpil and Jinyoung take their lessons.

Sungjin is complaining. Jae ignores him.

When they arrive to the classroom, the teacher is working on the piano with some kid Jae doesn’t recognize. “I have to say something to Wonpil-ah and Jinyoung, teacher” Jae says after greeting the man. For some reason, teachers tend to love Jae and they always agree to petitions like that.

Sungjin thinks it’s because he smiles too much when he speaks.

The two boys come from their place where they were sitting in a corner of the room, surely waiting for their time to review some lesson. Wonpil is beaming at Jae and Jinyoung is frowning, which isn’t weird when it comes to Jae, so no one makes a comment about it.

Jinyoung _kind_ of dislikes him, Jae concluded since they first met. Though that probably has something to do with the fact that during that same first meeting, on Jae’s also first class at the academy, Jae had made sure that Wonpil would only talk to him and ignore Jinyoung.

It had been only in the short time when he was with Wonpil before he had to leave to his own class, but he had worked hard to ignore Jinyoung and his kind ‘ _hello, Wonpil has told me a lot of you! I’m glad we finally met each other!_ ’ and ‘ _it’s good that you’re going to play the piano too, Jaehyung sunbae!’_.

And maybe Jae did the exact same thing the second time. And the third and fourth. But he stopped with that right after his ninth birthday, when Wonpil brought Jinyoung with him Jae's his party and he understood that Jinyoung wasn’t that bad except for the detail that he’d normally frown around Jae and steal Wonpil from him.

(The sense of maturity that Jae acquired at nine is something he’s quite proud of).

“Is everything alright, hyung?” Wonpil asks him once they’re in the hall outside the classroom. “Are you not feeling well again and you want Jinyoung to call your mom because you forgot your cellphone…?”

Sungjin coughs in an attempt to hide a laugh.

Yes, what Wonpil mentioned had happened—but only once! Wonpil had missed that class because he was sick, and for some reason Sungjin hadn’t been there either, and Jae preferred to buckle up and ask a favor to Jinyoung because he’d stumble across him on his way to the administration office.

And, also, Jae was older than nine when that happened, so his sense of maturity was better and he was doing his best to improve his relation with Jinyoung.

Jae ignores Sungjin again. “I just wanted to say hi.”

He’s lying. Wonpil gives him a skeptical look and Jae imagines that Sungjin, standing on his back, is doing the same. He even thinks that the way Jinyoung is frowning changes; Jae guesses he doesn’t believe him either.

Jae notices too that Jinyoung is wearing a long sleeved shirt. He can’t see his wrist because of that.

“Umh, hi hyung?” Wonpil says confused.

“Hi, Piri” Jae replies waving his hand at him. “Hi, Jinyoung” he also says, waving his hand again.

Jinyoung pulls out a grimace, but returning Jae’s gesture, he also raises his hand to wave it slightly. “Hi.”

His sleeve falls because of the movement. There’s no trace of a mark on his right wrist. But it could be on the left…

Jae does his best to keep a conversation going for a few minutes as he thinks in another way of seeing Jinyoung’s left wrist without having to ask for it directly. At the end, he doesn’t even have to try anything, as Jinyoung is the one who ends up pulling his sleeves up to his elbows as the hall is warmer than the inside of the classroom.

There’s no mark either there, which means the Jinyoung hasn’t met his soulmate yet.

He can’t be Wonpil’s soulmate then as Wonpil have mentioned him among the persons he wanted his soulmate to be like. And neither Jae can be it because he also has his own soulmate mark, and neither Sungjin.

Jae groans internally.

Lately, he’s been thinking in the soulmates issues too much for his own taste. And even if he’s starting to get worried about his own soulmate, it’s Wonpil’s the one that worries him the most. He wasn’t exaggerating when he said that Wonpil deserves the best soulmate.

Jae wants to make sure Wonpil’s soulmate is someone cool and nice and kind and perfect for him, and part of him had wished it was all revolving around Jinyoung because then everything would have been a lot easier.

He sighs—he was trying to like Jinyoung for Wonpil, but he's doing everything more difficult!

Jae is saying goodbye as soon as he sees Jinyoung’s empty wrist and has dealt with the whole disappointment. Wonpil looks at him, as confused as before, and Jinyoung is still frowning before they go back to their classroom.

Sungjin hits Jae on the nape when the door closes behind them “What was even that?”

Jae doesn’t feel any kind of physical pain as it wasn’t a harsh gesture; it’s more a hit in his own ego. “I just couldn’t remember if Jinyoung had the soulmate mark” he admits. It’s not worth lying when it’s clear Sungjin won’t believe him.

“Are you serious?” Sungjin is seeing him like that time when he forgot the notes of his piece minutes after a recital—the concerned and defeated glance. “You’ve known him for years! Or… You could just have asked me! Or Wonpil. We lost our break time for this!”

He’s right—another strike for his ego. Jae shrugs, “I think I could have done that. Sorry.”

Sunjin rolls his eyes, “Don’t say sorry if you don’t mean it. Why is it even so important now?” he adds with a scoff. “I thought you weren’t interested in those things.”

Jae is not telling Sungjin about all those times he went to bed trying to understand his soulmate mark. He doesn’t need to know either how worried Jae is of his parent’s reactions to whoever is his soulmate.

He swallows, “I wasn’t, but I’m gonna turn thirteen in a few weeks, I think it’s time for me to power up.”

“Excuse me?” Sungjin is frowning, but his gesture is very different to Jinyoung’s. “That doesn’t make sense at all.”

“It does!” Jae complains. He smirks proudly, “Sungjin, I’ve decided that I’m going to help Wonpil find his soulmate.”

Sungjin’s expression tells him that he wants to hit him on the nape again. “You what?”

“He’s my best friend since forever!” Jae explains. “I wouldn’t want a creep to be his soulmate. He deserves the best” he repeats what he told Wonpil a while ago.

Sungjin scoffs, “So you’re finding Wonpil’s soulmate, but not yours.”

“Because I don’t care about soulmates, but I care about Wonpil.”

“That’s bullshit” Sungjin says right away. None of them saw the teacher that was exciting from another of the classrooms, who immediately glares at Sungjin for his vocabulary. “Sorry, teacher” Sungjin apologizes, looking embarrassed. He isn’t near to blushing, though.

Jae laughs at that.

“I do care about Wonpil!”Jae says in a giggle.

“You weren’t lying on that part” Sungjin rolls his eyes again. “What do you try to get with this?”

He hums, “Wonpil to be happy?”

Jae is concerned about Sungjin’s eyes as he rolls them once more. “You’re a terrible liar, you know?”

“I wasn’t lying this time!”

“I know you weren’t” Sungjin sighs. He looks at his watch, and urges Jae to go back to their own classroom. “How do you even plan to find Wonpil’s soulmate, uh?”

He rolls his eyes for a fourth time when Jae explains him his plan.

Jae is thirteen —his birthday was some days ago, _happy birthday to him!_ He got a skateboard as a present and he has already fallen from it more than five times and the same happened to Wonpil when he also tried it— thirteen, not a professional detective.

That fact is quite embarrassing to admit because Jae has no idea how to proceed with his search of Wonpil’s soulmate.

Starting the foundations of his investigations was easy. He had taken one of his old notebooks to make a list of all the possible places where Wonpil could have gone in his life.

Wait. That part was _already_ hard!

There was the hospital where he had been born, their neighborhood, his school, the piano academy, every store he visited in his entire life… Fortunately, at least, Wonpil had never left the city before. Not for vacations or a visit to relatives, just like Jae hadn’t done it either.

So after some weeks of losing his mind over the topic, Jae decides to change his strategy to a simpler one.

He begins asking Wonpil about every new person he meets.

In that way, when Wonpil meets his soulmate properly and feels whatever Jae’s mom ensures you feel when you’re with your soulmate, Jae is going to know who is he or she, and he’s going to be able to determinate if that person is good enough for Wonpil.

He knows it’s silly—Sungjin hadn’t exactly use that word to describe his plan when he told it about it, though Jae imagines he thought on it like that—, but that’s all Jae can do about it and he’s feeling so useless anyways.

“Jae hyung, stop!” Wonpil tells him one day as they wait for Wonpil’s parents to pick them up from the piano academy. They’re alone in the entrance, with Jinyoung and Sungjin having left earlier that time, and Jae was asking him about the new girl in his class.

“Stop what?” Jae pretends to be confused.

And Wonpil is not buying it, of course not. “You’re making too many questions!” Wonpil complains. “Not only about Nayeon, but about everyone!”

“That’s because I’m curious.”

(Jae’s still bad at making questions—he’s too straightforward, which should be good if he wasn’t trying to investigate something in secret).

Wonpil wrinkles his nose. He still looks like a cute bunny too when he does that. “Your curiosity is kinda scary, hyung.”

Jae raises a brow, “What do you mean?”

“You asked me about Nayeon’s soulmate mark” Wonpil hisses in a low voice so no one else can listen to him. “That’s private, hyung!”

“It’s literally on anyone’s wrist. It’s not private.”

“It is! We’re talking about someone’s soulmate! Someone I barely know also!” Wonpil adds. “It’s not like if you ask me about mine, or I ask it to you. I barely know her!”

“You told me you showed it to all your classmates on your first day” Jae shoots back. “You barely knew them too.”

Wonpil’s cheeks, for some reason, get colored in pink. “I only did that because I wanted to be as cool as you.”

Jae purses his lips together in a grimace. “Having the mark was cool” he agrees after some seconds.

“It isn’t anymore?” Wonpil asks, doe eyes wide opened in disbelief. 

Jae thinks deeply on his question before finally answering it only once Wonpil’s dad has arrived to pick them up. “I don’t know, Piri” he says with honesty as they get into the car. Wonpil’s dad looks at him, confused of why the usual cheerful Jae has turned into a gloomy version of himself. “I think having a soulmate is complicated.”

That answer probably has to do something to be with his whole search for Wonpil’s soulmate and how bad it's going. Or maybe, it’s related to the fact that Jae is growing tired of trying to understand what the drawing on his wrist is about.


	2. jae, wonpil and the soulmate crisis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a small note:  
> in this story dowoon and wonpil have the same age

Everyone hates Jae’s sixteen year old crisis.

Sixteen year old Jae hates a lot of things too. He hates going to school and his classes (the piano ones included, but he keeps that between Sungjin and him) and for the first time in his whole life, he even fails a test. He hates his parents telling him what to do with that and many other things in his life. He hates not being allowed to get a proper tattoo on his right wrist. He hates people telling him he’s hating things a little bit too much.

And above everything, he hates having that damn soulmate mark.

He hates the pain that comes from it and that he’s now learned to recognize. It feels like having the worst food poisoning he’s had in his whole life (a comparison that he _also_ hates, because he keeps considering it the worst one every time he feels it, and not all those pains can be the _worst_ ones).

Jae hates not being able to find a better way to explain it also—a food poisoning? It’s fucking ridiculous. Sungjin’s name for his own attacks of pain that he feels when he’s not near Younghyun is better: he simply calls him attacks of pain. See? A lot better!

He maybe hates Sungjin too—Sungjin, who’s started to talk more about Younghyun and who has one picture of both of them set as wallpaper on his phone. Sungjin, who knows who is his soulmate and is able to stop the pain just by going where Younghyun is.

But Jae definitely hates Yoon Dowoon.

Dowoon transferred to Wonpil’s school some months ago and he easily become Wonpil's friend. And listen to this: Dowoon has the most adorable puppy eyes Jae’s ever seen, and his ears get red whenever someone points that detail.

It happens all the time since Wonpil introduced him to Jae one weekend that he came to visit him, as talkative and straightforward Park Jaehyung keeps repeating how cute Dowoon is because he’s so, _so_ cute.

Dowoon is the first person Jae kisses too—and Jae hates that so much.

Because he’s sure he likes Dowoon; he really likes him! Jae has a whole debate about liking boys and not girls that he also hates going through (does being a little infatuated with Misun from the class B counts as liking girls too…? She’s pretty and kind and she was the student designated to give him tutoring lessons when he failed a class. Maybe it was just that she was helping him, now that he thinks on it—).

Jae really, really likes Dowoon. He keeps thinking on it for a long time, not even sure if Dowoon likes boys as he does. Wonpil thinks it’s cute that Jae likes Dowoon, and he never comments anything about the detail that Dowoon is also a boy and that he doesn’t have his soulmate mark like Jae already does.

(But just like when they were children, Wonpil mostly listens when Jae tells him about whatever thing he and Dowoon talked that day through messages. And Jae hates that—he _hates_ that after years of being the one talking, Wonpil is suddenly so quiet when Jae is ranting about the person he likes).

Because Jae really, really likes Dowoon. That’s why one day he decides to power up and becomes brave enough to confess and even kiss Dowoon when he admits he also likes him, and then Dowoon’s kissing him back, and Jae is so, so happy… Until all Jae feels is one of those damn food poisoning pains related to his soulmate.

Did his soulmate have to leave the country in that moment or what? Jae’s trying to kiss the boy he’s liked for months! He doesn’t deserve this, fuck.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Dowoon asks him as Jae is groaning and holding his chest. The pain moves up from his stomach, and Jae hates it so much because that’s definitely the worst one he’s _ever_ felt. When Jae raises his head, he notices Dowoon’s worried puppy eyes. It makes him hate even more his situation.

“I’m okay, don’t worry” Jae manages to say. “I just have to sit down a second.”

Dowoon helps him to sit properly on the sidewalk, offering his hand. They’re on the street on the back of the piano academy, where Jae is supposed to be now but he decided to ditch today’s lesson and asked Dowoon if he could see him instead.

“Hyung” Dowoon mumbles softly, sitting next to him. Jae is looking at immediately. “I think we shouldn’t do that again.”

Jae feels his jaw drop, “Do what?”

He already knows the answer.

“Kissing” Dowoon replies. He’s blushing. It’s adorable. “We like each other but I’m not… I’m not your soulmate, hyung. And being with the wrong person is clearly hurting you.”

Jae opens his mouth in disbelief. The wrong one? But he really likes Dowoon!

“I’m fine, I promise!” Jae says too quickly. “My soulmate probably just moved from the city or went out on a trip. That’s why it hurts. It’s just that the distance has become bigger. I promise!”

Dowoon gives him a reassuring smile. “Hyung, did I ever tell you that my parents are not each other soulmates?”

Slowly, Jae shakes his head. He doesn’t know what to say.

“My dad already has his mark” Dowoon continues explaining, “and my mom doesn’t, but they love each other a lot.”

“Your dad doesn’t know who his soulmate is?” Jae asks.

“Nope” Dowoon is still smiling in that comforting way. “It must have been someone he met by accident, like you” he then goes and grabs Jae by the right wrist, where his soulmate mark is. He traces the black line with his index finger. Jae trembles at the touch because he’s cold. “I once heard them arguing about something, and my mom was so angry that she told my dad that he didn’t love her because she was not his soulmate” Dowoon’s smile is now the one trembling. “Dad cried. None of them know that I was listening to them” he clarifies. “And he told her that it wasn’t that he didn’t love her” Dowoon’s voice is becoming slower and slower, like if he wants Jae to see every detail, “because he does love her like I already mentioned. It’s was just more that it hurt him to love her because my mom’s not the one for him. I thought my dad was exaggerating because mom seemed to be winning their discussion” he chuckles between his teeth, “That’s why I told myself it was completely okay to give it a try with you even if you already found your soulmate and that’s not me. But now I see that he was right.”

Dowoon stops moving his finger over Jae’s mark. His puppy eyes are looking at Jae’s filled with tears being held (he hates crying! Especially if that’s in front Dowoon when he's ending up whatever they had).

“I don’t care if it hurts, Dowoon-ah” Jae’s voice is cracking as he speaks. Oh God, sixteen year old Jae is a crying baby and he fucking hates that. “I really like you.”

The reassuring smile Dowoon gave him in a first instant is still there, “I really like you too, hyung. That’s why I don’t want you to feel that.”

Jae is sure he hates Yoon Dowoon—he hates him for being so mature for his age and understanding his situation better than Jae himself. Jae hates him for staying there with him hugging him until he stopped crying. Jae hates him for what he told him. Jae hates him because every time he thinks on his first kiss he remembers himself crying and his heart being broken.

Jae hates him because after that conversation, part of Jae thinks he’s never going to be able to find his soulmate just as he failed finding Wonpil's and eventually gave up on the topic. And Jae hates that probably meaning he’s never going to be able to be with someone without feeling pain.

(Sixteen year old Jae is so dramatic, and he _fucking_ hates it).

Jae also hates his sixteen year old crisis. Being sixteen and not knowing who your soulmate is sucks.

Wonpil likes to keep the curtains on Jae room opened.

And Jae, who has been in his "vampire mood! as his mom and dad call it (which is a ridiculous name, but whatever) since Dowoon told him they’d be better just as friends, hates the sun entering into his room.

“It’s good for the plants!” Wonpil tells him as he makes himself a space on Jae’s bed to lie next to him.

“I don’t even have plants here” Jae scowls, moving so Wonpil can be more comfortable in his twin sized bed.

Wonpil wrinkles his nose. “I was trying to make a joke about calling you a plant, hyung. You also need the sun!”

Jae scowls one more time. He goes completely under the sheets after that. He really doesn’t want to have the sun bothering in his face.

Jae hates that the only window in his bedroom is right next to his bed. He hates being heartbroken at sixteen. He hates having a soulmate mark.

“I’m gonna get a sunburn for your fault” Jae grunts under the bed sheets. “Sungjin is always getting sunburns—I fucking hate the sun!”

Wonpil squirms at that. Jae’s dorm door is supposed to be opened every time someone visits him (especially when Misun from class B offered herself to give him extra tutoring lessons in his own house), but as it’s just Wonpil, right now it’s closed, so none of his parents probably heard him.

Or maybe they did. Jae almost screamed it after all.

“The sun gives you vitamin D, hyung” Wonpil says. Jae can’t see his expressing and neither Wonpil can see how Jae rolls his eyes. “And you know what vitamin D is?”

“A vitamin?” Jae huffs.

“Well, yes” he imagines Wonpil wrinkling his nose in annoyance. “I read that when our vitamin D levels are high then we have a bigger chance to feel happy and not sad!”

Jae doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, “I’m not a plant, Piri” he mumbles at the end.

“Yeah, I had my doubt about that” Wonpil sneers. For some reason, his reaction mixed with the image of his wrinkled nose make Jae chuckle in the slightest form. “Hyung!” of course that doesn’t go unnoticed by Wonpil, “See? I was right! The sun is already helping you.”

Jae pulls the sheets from his face so he can see Wonpil. “You’re the one that made me laugh” Wonpil is quickly beaming up. “You’re saying stupid things” Jae completes his phrase, and soon Wonpil is whining and hitting him playfully in the shoulder like he used to do when they were kids.

“Shut up” he hisses, now being the one going under the bed sheets.

Jae imitates him with a frown. “What the fuck are you doing?” he asks once they’re both covered.

Wonpil wrinkles his nose, “Can you talk like a decent person, please?”

“I am a decent person!” Jae can’t control the grin that comes with his words, not even if he wants it so hard because he’s supposed to be sad, not easily smiling with each little thing Wonpil does.

“You’re saying you hate the sun” Wonpil points out. “You’re definitely not a decent person.”

“It gives me sunburns.”

“It gives you vitamin D!”

Jae frowns, “If you like it so much why you are even covering yourself? Do you secretly hate it, Piri?”

Even under the bed sheets, as the sunlight that comes through the opened curtains is still able to hit them, it’s easy to notice Wonpil’s cheeks blushing. “Don’t be silly, hyung. I don’t hate the sun. I hate seeing you sad.”

Jae blinks at that. Wonpil isn’t usually the straightforward one among the two; that's definitely Jae. Wonpil would opt instead for making lots of questions or talking a lot until he reached a point… But right now he’s making himself clear.

Jae’s frown grows even deeper. Since when did that change on Wonpil? Why didn’t he notice it before?

“I hate being sad” he simply replies. It’s the truth.

“But you need to be it” Wonpil adds. Jae looks at him, unamused. “What? I hate to see you sad, but it’s obvious, hyung! Don’t you remember that quote that after every storm there comes the sun?”

Jae groans. “I told you I hate the sun.”

“It’s supposed to be a metaphor!”

“I hate that metaphor.”

“Then create your own metaphor and buckle up” Wonpil scoffs. He’s wrinkling his nose again, only that this time is in a clear signal of exasperation—an irritated bunny. It’s cute. 

Jae laughs at the thought. How does Wonpil always manage to make him feel at ease? Well, except for all those times he remained quiet when Jae talked about Dowoon that annoyed him so much. But asides that Jae doesn’t really remember ever thinking he hated Wonpil.

Jae doesn’t think he’d ever be capable of hating Wonpil and his bright doe eyes and his cute bunny grimaces.

“After the coffin there comes the bed” he says, more because he’s aware that’d please Wonpil than because he actually wanted to obey him. Wonpil raises a brow. “What?” Jae questions him. “That’s my metaphor. Done.”

Will there come the day when Wonpil stop wrinkling his nose? Jae hopes not.

“Why a coffin?” Wonpil asks him. He tries to hide the fact that he’s controlling a chuckle with a straight face.

Jae shrugs. As they’re under the bed sheets, the movement causes for them to fall momentarily over his eyes. He tosses them away with a scoff, “Mom says I’m a vampire because I haven’t left my room and refuse to eat and go outside to see the light. Dad also agrees with her.”

Wonpil blurts out a laugh. For some reason, Jae does the same.

“You’ll be a bad vampire” Wonpil says between his laughs.

Jae pushes him. He only uses the enough force to move his chest a little. “Give me your arguments and I might consider them, Piri."

Wonpil hums, “You’re too nice to go around biting people, hyung.”

“I just pushed you” Jae remembers him.

“I know.”

“Are you really saying I’m nice after that?”

Wonpil smiles kindly. He looks at him at the eyes with his own bright doe ones. “You didn’t try to chase Dowoon after he talked to you. You respected his decision and didn’t insist with that even if you were in your right to stand for your own feelings.”

The trace of Jae’s laugh disappears with that. He remains quiet. He doesn’t know what to say, how he is supposed to feel…

“You’re so brave, hyung” Wonpil says when Jae can’t say anything. “You’re the bravest person I know!”

It’s stupid, but when Wonpil says that Jae feels he has seven years instead of sixteen. It’s like if Wonpil is calling him cool again and Jae is for some reason feeling as the coolest person in the whole world. Only that this time, he’s the bravest one.

“I’ve been crying a lot” Jae admits. Wonpil nods at that, “And I’ve been about to call Dowoon a lot of times, and trying to convince myself that I hate him when it’s clearly that I don’t because I still like him.”

Wonpil gifts him a smile, “It’s okay to cry, hyung, but trying to hate Dowoon…”

“I know” Jae interrupts him. “It’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid” Wonpil corrects him. “You’re in pain. It’s normal that you’re a bit angry with everyone.”

Jae wants to correct him too—right now, he’s not in pain. Right now, Jae feels lighter than before, having laughed for real for the first time in days. And he isn’t angry with everyone either; he’s still a little mad at the world giving him a stranger for a soulmate, mad at Dowoon and at his forever ruined memory of a first kiss, but he isn’t angry with Wonpil.

When he says that out loud, Wonpil pulls him into a hug.

For a second, Jae thinks he would cry right there, with his head hidden in Wonpil’s chest. But turns out, he can’t do anything else but smile.

Jae’s sixteen year old crisis only ends with Sungjin telling him about how he’s started dating Younghyun.

What they have is some sort of Romeo and Juliet modern drama, as Sungjin’s mom has no idea how good had he and Younghyun have become to sneak during classes to make out in some random and hidden place from their school.

(Jae didn’t want to know that detail either, but whatever, Sungjin is always smiling when he tells Jae about how much he likes kissing Younghyun, and even if Junseok truly returns the smile by seeing Sungjin so dreamy enchanted, Jae does his best to show a disgusted grimace as he just heard his friend talking about how it had been his first kiss using tongue—which is really disgusting to know in Jae’s opinion).

So Sungjin is dating Younghyun now—Younghyun, his soulmate. And he’s all flowers and sunshine even if the sun continues turning his sensitive skin red with just a blink.

Maybe it’s all that joy that Sungjin even sweats (yes, even sweats!) the one that causes grumpy and amateur vampire Jae to smile a little more often.

(Wonpil also contributes to that, but he being there with Jae isn’t strange—they’ve been together since forever, right?).

In Jae’s defense, it’s impossible to keep a straight face and pretend you hate everything in the world when you have your friend telling you about his secret escapades with his boyfriend and all that chat about kissing him… Jae _needs_ to get rid of the straight face at some point of the conversation.

That’s how he begins grimacing, and then slowly, there come the grins. Especially when he can’t avoid a laugh when Sungjin’s thoughts out loud about Younghyun are far _too_ cheesy and Junseok is claiming that little Sungjin is in love!

Jae hears a lot of people claiming they’re in love now.

After all, it’s been a while since he had been the only person in his class with a soulmate mark, and many of his classmates have also started dating their soulmates. He’s almost seventeen by that moment, and even Woosung is one day coming to class happily explaining how he’d met the prettiest girl yesterday in a store and how they've exchanged numbers even if none of them had the mark.

Jae is probably not the coolest person in his class anymore. He stopped being it after his whole sixteen year old crisis that cost him lots of friendships because he behaved like an ass and pushed many people away.

Jae really hates his sixteen year old crisis—he hates it that much that he always groans and complains when someone brings the topic to remind him of his grumpy and rebellious behavior. And he kind of even misses being able to brag with Wonpil about being the coolest student in his class…

Wait, no. Scratch that out—Jae’s definitely not the coolest person in his class anymore and he’s suffering the consequences of his sixteen year old crisis, but he couldn’t care less. Not when for the first time, when Jae starts his last year in high school, he and Wonpil get to be in the same school.

Wonpil finally being in the same school than Jae has a simple explanation: that was also the same high school where his parents studied, and Wonpil still thinks that's a sweet detail.

But with Wonpil as a first year student, there’re also come new students Jinyoung and Dowoon.

Sungjin and Younghyun are still in a different school than theirs, kissing in whatever place they found for this week, and Jae is instead left with having to watch a frowning guy who still frowns a little too much around him, the guy who broke his heart, and his best friend every morning.

It’s still okay, though. Things are completely awkward at the beginning with Dowoon considering they haven’t really spoken that much to the other since they kissed, but it all eventually becomes simpler and it just happens one day that he and Dowoon are able to see each other at the eyes without cringing.

It gets a lot simpler when, among the three students that enter to the school in the middle of March, one of them ends up being Dowoon’s soulmate.

The new boy is all a blushing ball of nerves when he notices his soulmate mark appearing in front of the whole classroom as he introduces himself.

(According to Wonpil, Dowoon excused himself to go to the restroom in that moment. When he returned, his ears were very red and he went and stood in front of the new student and told him something like “ _hi, my name is Yoon Dowoon and I think I’m your soulmate!_ ”).

(Also, according to Wonpil, the teacher cooed because it was a cute scene. Though Jinyoung ensured Jae he was exaggerating and he had been the one cooing out loud).

Surprisingly, it’s really, really easy to smile around Dowoon when Dowoon is also always smiling now. Even if he’s smiling to someone else, there’s not a bittersweet effect on Jae—Dowoon is happy. Happier than how he would have ever been with Jae because he's with the right person for him: his soulmate.

(With the welcoming of his seventeen years and the end of his sixteen year old crisis, Jae develops a sense of maturity he’s quite proud of).

But they aren’t the only ones smiling.

Wonpil is always smiling too; even during Jae’s and Jinyoung’s arguments about whichever topic they decide to argue this time when they have lunch together at the cafeteria (Woosung is confused when Jae tells him he’ll be now sitting with a group of freshmen during his breaks, but as he recognizes Wonpil among them, he doesn’t comment anything else).

And because of that —because Wonpil is always smiling—, it’s really easy for Jae to smile at any moment. Not only when Dowoon is smiling, or when Sungjin is telling him about Younghyun, or when Jinyoung starts acting all flustered around a boy and his own soulmate mark appears during a school trip with other schools from the district.

Seventeen year old Jae doesn’t have anything to worry about as long as he has Wonpil with him.

(Also, for the first time in years, Jae doesn’t hate having a soulmate mark. Wherever his soulmate is, it shouldn’t be that far away, as Jae hasn’t felt any pain in a while).

Jae usually feels confused for at least fifteen minutes after he wakes up from a nap.

That’s why, for some reason, he thinks it’s completely normal for Wonpil to be in his room, in what he remembers to be a Sunday evening, filling a cardboard box with things that look like Jae’s old toys.

(He probably imagines seeing Optimus Prime giving him a last salute as he’s in Wonpil’s hand before disappearing inside the box. And if he did, then Jae is probably still dreaming because since when his Optimus Prime toy is able to move by his own…?).

But then Wonpil has this terrified expression when Jae calls his name, and his bright doe eyes indicate Jae that he’s been caught doing something he isn’t supposed to be doing. And after some seconds of only looking at each other, Jae gets it.

Wonpil is not supposed to be in his room!

“What the fuck” Jae mumbles, as the door is opened and he hears his mom’s voice somewhere in the house. Sixteen year old Jae wouldn’t mind of his mom accidentally listening to him cursing, but seventeen year old Jae does. He’s a new mature man, “What are you doing here?”

“Good morning to you too” Wonpil says with a hint of both irony and embarrassment. It’s a weird combination.

“It’s definitely past midday” Jae scowls. He moves in the bed to check the clock on his bedtable. It marks seven P.M. “Like for a lot, Piri. Don’t good morning me.”

Wonpil rolls his eyes. “You went to sleep and this was still empty” he raises the cardboard box he’s holding. There’s a sound with it, which means there’s something inside of it already. “I’m helping you, hyung, so maybe you’d want to be kinder with me.”

Jae squints at the box, where he’s starting to think that Optimus Prime must really be.

He then understands the part of his toys. He remembers his mom telling him about the donation they’d make for an event on Wonpil’s mom work, and how he had promised her he’d gather all his toys to give them away.

But Jae went to sleep, and the box was empty. He only needed to have everything ready before Monday because Wonpil’s mom would take everything on Monday’s morning.

Monday’s morning, like… Tomorrow. Shit.

Wonpil wrinkles his nose at his lack of response, “You didn’t remember it?” he questions him. He’s almost beaming amused at that.

Jae stands from his bed so quickly that he forgets he’s only wearing his boxers and an oversized black shirt. It’s not the first time Wonpil sees Jae like that anyways, so he isn’t worried about it. Surprisingly, Wonpil looks away. It's weird, “I did remember” Jae scoffs, “I just decided to take a nap.”

“You look handsome despite the mark of the pillow on your cheek, hyung” Wonpil mumbles. He’s once again focused in finding Jae’s toys from his shelves that are a little bit of a mess right now.

Jae blushes at the teasingly comment, rubbing both of his cheeks with his hands. “You’re invading my privacy, Piri” he accuses him.

Wonpil chuckles, “I told you I’m helping you. Mom sent me to pick up your box, but I didn’t want to disturb your beauty nap, hyung, so I decided to do it myself” he stumbles across with Jae’s old PSP as he speaks. It doesn’t even turn on anymore, not since Jae had the brilliant idea of playing with it while he went to the pool with Wonpil when he was maybe eleven. “Why do you still have this?” Wonpil raises a brow. “Hyung, you should seriously clean your room more often.”

“Shut up” Jae pushes him playfully. He starts digging between his things too, letting out a cry of surprise when he finds a small metallic box under a sweater that belongs to Wonpil and that he never returned. “Piri, remember this?”

Wonpil groans, “Not the Yu-gi-oh cards, please.” He doesn’t comment anything about his white sweater.

“Definitely the Yu-gi-oh cards!” Jae exclaims as he opens the box. He frowns when he notices there’re not only cards there, “My Bakugans are here too. I thought I’d lost them all.”

He goes and sits in the floor, in the space near the door. Wonpil imitates him, leaving the cardboard box forgotten next to the shelves. The position is quite familiar for both of them considering that used to be their spot when they were kids and played the same games.

“Bakugan is still better than Yu-gi-oh” Wonpil says, and Jae is instantly complaining at that. “The characters are better, hyung! And the Masquerade’s real identity plot twist? It was cool! ” he argues.

“It wasn’t that good after the second season” Jae scoffs. He takes the cards out and starts making decks for them to play. Wonpil whines as soon as he notices his intention, but he accepts the cards he offers him anyways.

“We should be finishing packing your toys” he points out as Jae begins the game, “not playing with them.”

“These are deadly weapons, not toys” Jae claims proudly. Wonpil shakes his head in a signal of disapproval, but Jae also listens to a laugh being held back. “Are you just saying that because you never learned how to play, Piri?”

Wonpil wrinkles his nose. “I’m saying it because this is still boring.”

“Oh, so that confirms me that you definitely don’t know how to play it.”

“I know how to play it!” Wonpil says between a full chuckle this time. “You were a terrible teacher, but I eventually learned how—“

“What do you mean with that?” Jae cuts him midsentence. “I was the best teacher!”

Wonpil bites his lip, in a hesitant way. Jae swallows at the abrupt gesture. It takes Wonpil some seconds to speak in a shy voice, “Hyung, I know that you changed most of the rules because of me. It was pretty obvious.”

Jae blushes, blinking away. He does his best to convince himself that’s only related to Wonpil being aware of how he would cheat on games on his favor and not due the fact that he stared at Wonpil’s lips for more than the needed time to even see how they had gotten a little red after he bit them.

What the fuck?

“I…I…” Jae is stuttering. Wonpil wrinkles his nose again, which is good because it reminds Jae to a cute bunny and thus he can stop thinking on how he paid so much attention to Wonpil’s lips—what’s wrong with him? What the fuck. “You were a terrible player!” he blurts out. “I had to help you every time!”

“That’s the least you could do because you made me play Yu-gi-oh when it’s boring!”

“Oh my God, Wonpil, stop saying that or you’ll be banned from entering to my room.”

Even with Wonpil’s protests of not playing, they finish two rounds. Wonpil wins the first and he shoves it on Jae’s face. When Jae wins the second, he makes sure to also brag about it too.

“Remember the backpack that you bought for me, hyung?” Wonpil suddenly says. They’re still sitting in the floor with the cards in front of them, but they’re both aware that Wonpil has already spent too much time on Jae’s house for just ‘picking up a box’, so they can’t start another round.

(And Jae’s partially glad about it. He doesn’t know he can deal with Wonpil winning him again or him continuing biting his lips as he thought each of his movements. Isn’t biting your lips something like a bad habit? Maybe that’s all what the confusion was about—Jae must be worried about Wonpil hurting his lips).

Jae hums, “You used it until your fourth grade” he remembers. “No one even watched Bakugan at that time anymore but you insisted in using it even after I told you that I’d stopped watching it too” Wonpil nods, chuckling. “Why did you keep using it, Piri?” Jae asks, genuinely curious.

“You bought it for me” Wonpil repeats what he just said. He’s smiling, so Jae knows he’s also smiling. “It was special. Just like—“ he moves from the floor to Jae’s bed, and Jae tries to stop him because he already knows what he’d do and it’s embarrassing, “My little friend here!” Wonpil exclaims, taking the bunny pushy that was under Jae’s bed sheets. He was probably hugging it during his nap. Jae groans louder. “Ow, hyung, you still sleep with him, don’t you? You’re so cute!”

Jae is blushing. “I’m not… I’m not cute!”

“You’re cute!” Wonpil insists. “You’re like the cutest person I’ve ever known!”

Why that kind of affirmations still has the same effect over Jae? It’s been years.

“We’ve grown up a lot, uh?” Wonpil lies over Jae’s bed, with the pushy still in his hands. Jae simply plops in the floor next to him.

“Yeah, I guess so” Jae says back. “You’re still pretty short, though.”

He feels a slight push in the back of his head. Ouch—why does Wonpil have to be so aggressive? At least he’s not tickling him like he’d do when they were younger, “Hyung, I’m trying to create a moment here!”

“A moment for what?” Jae moves his head to see him. Wonpil is still hugging the bunny pushy. Judging for how Wonpil now usually wears a lot of perfume, Jae supposes the pushy will smell like him if he continues hugging it.

Jae doesn’t ask him to leave it.

“Just a cute moment! Don’t ruin it” Wonpil wrinkles his nose. “I was saying that we’ve grown up a lot, not only on our heights” he holds the pushy with a hand and gestures with the other like if he’s in some sort of conference. Jae can’t hold a laugh.

Wonpil throws the pushy at him.

“I’m happy to have been all these years with you, Jae hyung” he cuts his speech all of sudden. “Even if you forced me to play Yu-gi-oh.”

Jae huffs, tapping the pushy’s ears. “You were the one who ruined it this time, Piri.”

“Because it’s your turn to say something nice!” Wonpil explains. He comes closer to him in the bed, laying over his stomach and putting his chin over his palms. In that new position, his face is right in front of Jae’s, who was still looking at his direction.

Why is Jae feeling flustered then if it’s only Wonpil being close to him? It’s not like if that has never happened before, but still… Fuck. Is Jae going to have another crisis? Is his seventeen year old crisis related to Wonpil and feeling weird around him? He should stop it before it gets worse.

“Okay” Jae finally says, trying to keep his thoughts in order. “I’m happy that we’ve been together for so long.”

Wonpil whines, “Hyung, that’s exactly what I said!”

“You’re wrong, I didn’t mention supposedly forcing you to play Yu-gi-oh” Jae clarifies. But as Wonpil seems to be unpleased by the comment, he adds: “I really meant it, Piri. I’m always happy when I’m with you.”

They’re so close that Wonpil’s blush doesn’t go unnoticed by Jae. And he guesses it’s the same for his own cheeks turning quickly into red.

“I’m always happy with you too, hyung” Wonpil mutters back. Jae tries to say something else, but it’s like if his mind has gone blank. It’s… _Odd_. He’s normally good at talking, especially at talking to Wonpil.

Jae’s seventeen year old crisis must definitely be related with Wonpil.

Jae’s seventeen year old crisis is real. So, so real; and it’s a hundred percent related to Wonpil.

It also involves, different to his sixteen year old crisis, lots of crying and a little less of anger but rather just Jae refusing to leave his room one day because he doesn’t want Wonpil to see him crying.

It actually starts on the school break, not that other day when Jae innocently questioned himself if Wonpil’s lips would turn as red as when he bit them when someone kissed him (a weird thought, but he’s curious even if he’s aware he should keep that curiosity in simply forgotten curiosity. And in that moment he’d imagined that was his seventeen year old crisis!).

Wonpil’s mom receives a promotion during the first days of their vacation period—a promotion that includes moving to another city.

They’re leaving because of it. It’s good money; an opportunity no one would let go, Jae’s parents remark as they explain him the news, but Jae’s too busy trying to process the fact that Wonpil’s leaving like to pay attention to that—Wonpil is leaving him. He will go to a different school in a different city and will have different friends.

It’s all too unexpected that it doesn’t even seem real.

Jae doesn’t think he’s ever felt as sad as he feels right now. But it’s not only that; as if that wasn’t enough, his soulmate is again playing strange tricks of location and the food poisoning pains return and they’re moving all over his chest in a way they haven’t done before.

It’s even worse than that time he kissed Dowoon. This time the pain is unbearable and it makes Jae cry.

He uses that as an excuse to his mom when she comes to his room telling that Wonpil is there to see him. Jae is crying and in pain, he doesn’t want Wonpil to witness that. He doesn’t even want to witness it himself, so he does his best to fall asleep instead.

It doesn’t work. The pain is too strong— _stupid soulmate_ , he thinks as he puts a pillow over his face to suffocate a groan. _Stupid soulmate for being so far away and making him feel worse than what he already did. Stupid soulmate for_ always _manage to hurt him._

His phone rings again. Jae doesn’t even have to look at it to know is Wonpil. It’s the fourth time he calls. Ignoring him is probably the worst way of acting to the news, because as his parents suggested him when they told him about it, spending his time with Wonpil is the best alternative now as it’s all he can do.

But Jae just found out in the morning about Wonpil leaving him. He hasn’t had even twenty four hours to pity himself—he needs a damn break.

That’s why a knock in his door makes him scoff. “Jae?” it’s his mom. “Can I come in? I brought tea.”

She didn’t bother asking if Jae was still awake. She must know it’s impossible for him to fall asleep.

“I don’t want tea” Jae mumbles when he stands up to unlock the door for her. He’s grimacing with each word and steep because the pain remains pounding in his chest, and he does his best to keep his face down as his eyes must be red for all the crying. Luckily, all the lights are turned off.

Behind the door, with the light coming from the hall and his head tilting trying to cover his face, Jae catches a glance of his mom smiling, very-mom alike but with a hint of worry, holding two cups of tea. “I know that’s your psychological trick to make me believe I’d feel better. That—” Jae forgets the name of it. He had read about it on the Internet when he found out about the whole teas deception.

He goes back to his bed without saying anything else.

“This is not my magical tea” his mom says, sitting in the edge of his bed. She’s never called it like that before, it makes Jae scoffs. “This is only normal tea. I thought you’d like to drink something warm.”

“I want to sleep” Jae points out.

“You need to sleep” she corrects him. Jae groans as it now feels like an order from his mom. “Jae, you’ve been crying, haven’t you?” she wonders, but even Jae can say that it’s not a real question but an affirmation. Why is she so smart? She shouldn’t be able to see Jae’s face in the darkness, which is good, because Jae probably looks like a red mess, but of course she still knows it. “I went to see Haeun” his mom adds. “She says Wonpil’s been crying too.”

Jae feels the pain in his chest increasing. There’re also more tears in his eyes, but those are for Wonpil, not for what his soulmate is making him go through.

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow, I promise” Jae says. His voice is breaking and he can’t hide that detail. It’s a bit embarrassing that his mom is listening to him crying. He’s not a kid anymore, and she shouldn’t be there to comfort him. “I just can’t do it right now. I don’t feel well.”

He feels a hand cupping his cheek. There’re tears there, but his mom doesn’t mention it. “Haeun and I spoke about something while I was at her house. Something very important” she comments instead.

Jae nods. It’s dark and she can’t see the gesture, but it had been a natural reaction as he doesn’t know what else to say at that.

“Wonpil is also feeling pain because of his soulmate” she continues talking. Jae closes his eyes at that, trying to hold back the tears. Wonpil is in pain and Jae isn’t there for to cheer him up when he can do it about the topic of him leaving town. He’s a bad friend. “Did you know that about soulmates?”

“What?” Jae’s grab over the bed sheets gets tighter. He moves a hand under them to find the bunny pushy that he had shoved somewhere in the bed when he stood up from it. He isn’t hugging it in front of his mom, but holding it makes him feel at ease anyways.

Jae was right—since that time Wonpil hugged him, barely a week ago, his perfume has been stuck in the pushy.

“Soulmates are emphatic at each other’s pain” his mom’s hand is caressing his hair now. Jae feels like a little boy who just woke up in the middle of a nightmare, with his mom there to calm him so he can go to sleep again. “It’s not always only the distance between you, sometimes it’s what each other feel too.”

So Jae’s soulmate is either going on tour on some remote place in the world or dealing with an own personal tragedy like Jae himself. _Great_ , Jae thinks. _More reasons to be affected by it._

“Normally that only happens once the soulmate bond has been developed” his mom continues. “Once the soulmates…” she makes a pause, “Really know each other. It didn’t happen to me until your father and I got married.”

_Great_ , Jae thinks again. His soulmate is definitely going on tour on some remote place while he’s crying on his bed.

“Are you telling me about your story with dad now?” Jae wonders, his eyes still closed to handle the pain. He doesn’t want to listen to a soulmate love story in that moment. He wants the pain to stop and Wonpil to not leave the city.

His mom laughs softly. “No, I came here to talk about you” she says. “And about your soulmate.”

Jae groans. “I know it’s in your mom DNA to hate everyone that makes me feel bad, but I’d prefer to not talk about that stranger right now, mom. If you want, I can rant about how much I’m gonna miss Wonpil, but I’m not talking about my soulmate—“

“Jae” his mom interrupts him. “There’s something I have to tell you” he squirms at the seriousness of her voice. It reminds him of another conversation they’ve had before, but that had been related to Wonpil going to school. “I need you to listen to me, okay? I know you’re going to have many questions, but you need to let me finish what I’m going to say.”

Jae nods again, confused. This time, as his mom is still caressing his hair, she must feel the movement.

His mom takes a deep breath, confusing Jae even more as, is she nervous? Why? “I never told you this, but when you were less than two and your soulmate mark appeared, there weren’t that much persons in the same room as us.”

He frowns at the new information, opening his eyes with surprise. “Mom, does that mean you…?”

“I’ll answer everything you want to know in a second, I know you have lots of questions” she surely is smiling right now, very mom alike like she always does. Jae wishes the lights were on so he could see her expression.

“Haeun and Taehyun had just arrived from the hospital with their new baby, so we went to visit them” she continues. Jae’s frown grows deeper, as why is she mentioning that if they were talking about Jae’s soulmate? “I was carrying you in my arms when we entered to Haeun’s room, so I saw how your mark started to form in your wrist.”

Jae moves in the bed until he’s also sitting on it. If his mom saw his mark appearing, then that means she knows it—she’s known it this whole time! Jae feels betrayed at that. Shit, his mom knew; and Jae had that awful sixteen year old crisis when he hated his soulmate mark.

He opens his mouth to say something, but his mom speaks first and he remembers she told him to wait until the end to make his questions.

“Haeun also saw it when we got closer to her bed” she says. Her voice is gentle, as if she wanted to hug Jae with it. “And I saw the small mark on Wonpil’s wrist too.”

She stops talking, maybe expecting another interruption as Jae has already proved her once in their conversation that he can’t resist the urge of saying something. After all, Jae has always been an easy talker who prefers to be the one telling a story instead of listening. But this time Jae is simply staring at the darkness to where he thinks his mom’s face is.

He understands what she’s trying to say, but he also doesn’t understand anything.

He grabs the pushy in both of his hands now. Jae’s hugging it—it smells like Wonpil. It reminds him of Wonpil as he had be the one who bought it for him.  
Jae’s thinking on Wonpil.

“Mom” he manages to speak. He’s crying and he doesn’t know why, though his hands are static holding the pushy and he can’t move them to wipe the tears from his cheeks. “Does that mean that Wonpil and I…?”

“You’re soulmates” his mom confirms. And Jae… Jae feels something falling on his chest in that moment. It’s not pain, like he’s been feeling constantly during the day. It’s something different; something really different and unanticipated.

Jae feels relieved.

And even if it’s like if he has just woken up from a nap and everything is confusing, Jae somehow finds himself smiling. Doesn’t he always smile when it comes to Wonpil?

But the gesture is quickly replaced with a frown, “Why?” he asks, still confused. “If you knew this all the time, why only now?” he gulps, growing nervous. “Is this because Wonpil is a boy?”

“Jae, there’s nothing wrong in Wonpil being a boy and also your soulmate.”

“Good” Jae swallows. He feels relieved again. He never told his mom about Dowoon and his entire dilemma of discovering how he likes boys, but he knows what she thinks now and it feels good because she isn’t upset about it. “Because I don’t think there’s nothing wrong on that either. But mom” he also says, “I still need to know why you waited all these years to tell me. Please, because I’m not understanding it. I… I need to know why.”

His mom sighs, “Haeun and I talked about it” she begins explaining. “You were too young to understand what being each other soulmate really meant, and we didn’t want you to grow up feeling an obligation towards the other. We both knew many people prefer to not believe on soulmates because they don’t want anyone to decide over their lives, and you were just kids.”

Jae remembers Dowoon’s parents getting married despite not being each other’s soulmate; how Dowoon had explained him it hurt for his dad to love his mom, but he decided to do it anyways. Did that mean he disliked the idea of having a soulmate then?

Jae had done it at some point too. His sixteen year crisis had been all about him hating having his soulmate mark.

“That’s why we never told you anything” his mom says. “We wanted to give both the freedom to decide for yourself. As soulmates it was logical that at some point you’d discover that you were each other soulmate, so we decided it was better if we gave you the opportunity to experience that by your own.”

“But we never did. I’ve always felt the same when I’m with Wonpil” Jae lets out a dry chuckle. It makes sense he didn’t see it before, “We’ve been friends for a lot of time. I guess I never noticed anything strange in how I feel with him because for as long as I can remember I’ve always felt the same way!”

His voice is more excited than what he had expected it to be. It’s weird. But Jae just discovered that Wonpil is his soulmate; there’s nothing weirder than that, so he lets it pass.

“We did our best to keep you close. Not because we wanted to force you to develop your soulmate bond” his mom clarifies. “We just didn’t want you to experiment the pain, so we tried to avoid any of you leaving town or being away from the other for a big amount of time. Probably you don’t remember it, but your grandmother got really sick one day when you were three or four. We went to visit her, but your father had to bring you back to the town and ask Haeun to take care of you because you couldn’t stop crying and you had fever…”

Jae frowns. If that had happened to him, does that mean it had been the same for Wonpil?

“But as soon as your father arrived at Haeun’s house you were better because you weren’t away from Wonpil anymore” she says. “We didn’t try to take you out of town again, and neither Haeun tried the same with Wonpil because she knew what could happen.”

“None of us have gone out on vacations” Jae reasons. “You were taking care of us.”

“We couldn’t do that forever, of course” his mom continues. Her voice is as gentle as it has been from the beginning. Jae feels like if it’s really hugging him even if his mom hasn’t moved her hand from his hair. “But we tried to do our best to protect you while it was in our power to do it so. When Wonpil had to start going to classes, Haeun wanted him to go to that other school, which was really far away from our houses compared to your school, so I thought it was a good opportunity to stablish a certain distance between the two.”

“The food poisoning pains started on Wonpil’s first day of classes because we weren’t close” Jae mumbles, remembering that day. “Soulmates have to be close to the other to not feel pain” he already knew that, but finally using it to directly refer to his own soulmate and not a mere stranger it’s different.

And Jae is talking about Wonpil because he _is_ his soulmate—Wonpil, who he’s met since he was barely two and with whom he had played all those silly games during their childhood and bought a backpack after he spent dozens of afternoons cleaning the garden.

Wonpil is his soulmate.

“Wonpil is leaving for his mom’s job” Jae speaks again after some seconds. “That’s why you’re telling me this, right? Because the pain will be worse.”

There’s another sigh. Jae wants to hug his mom because he can recognize the tiredness in her voice. He can't even imagine her expression right now. Is she’s crying like he was doing some minutes ago? Jae hugs the pushy with more strength.

“This time is different, you’re older” she says. “That’s what Haeun and I talked about. We were both going to explain you everything so you could be prevented about the pain, but we still think that it’s your entire choice what you want to do about your soulmate bond.”

Jae feels his cheeks blushing in the darkness. His mom means the romantic part that comes with it. How Wonpil and he are supposed to complement each other’s life. Jae hadn’t thought on that until now.

(Maybe, his theory about his seventeen year old crisis being about him thinking on Wonpil and kisses on the same phrase wasn’t that incorrect).

(Yes, Jae was mortified about it!).

Jae swallows, “So Wonpil knows it too.”

His mom moves closer to him, “I don’t know if Haeun already talked with him about this” it doesn’t surprise Jae when he feels her arms around his shoulders. He returns the hug immediately, even if the pushy makes everything somewhat uncomfortable. “I’m sorry for not telling you this before, Jae.”

She’s crying. Jae doesn’t think he’s ever seen his mom cried, not even all those times Jae had fallen while playing and there was blood in his bruises. Jae doesn’t hold the tears. There’s relief again in his chest as he cries and hugs his mom tightly.

“It hurt a lot” he mumbles with a sniffle. “I never told you, but liked a boy like more than a year ago. I liked him so much, but when I tried to do something about it, it hurt. I didn’t know it was because all this time I was meant to be with Wonpil. Not telling us, it’s okay, mom” this time Jae is the one that caresses her hair. “I get what you wanted with that. It’s… It’s nice that you gave me that freedom. But I’m your son, you must knew I’m not that smart to figure it all by myself.”

He knows his mom is smiling. Her crying stops, “I just wanted for you to be happy, Jae.”

Jae’s also smiling. He thinks on Wonpil and him growing up together, on them playing and all the time they've been with the other. Jae’s sure his smile gets wider with a simple thought.

“I was, mom. I was really the happiest.”

It’s late and Jae doesn’t know if Wonpil’s mom has already talked to him, so he really decides to wait until tomorrow to see him.

After his mom left his room, Jae didn’t make an effort to turn on the lights or move from his bed. He had simply remained in the same position, sitting and hugging the bunny pushy.

But at some point of the night, Jae moves because he needs to see something urgently.

His soulmate mark is still the same as it has been since he remembers. It’s a black doddle made with a line that curves in a figure he has never understood.

Jae squints at his right wrist. If Wonpil is his soulmate that means the mark is something related to him.

He spends the whole night looking meticulously at it, just like he had done other nights a year ago. Jae is tired, and his eyes hurt because he’s cried a lot, but he needs to understand his mark. He wants to tell Wonpil about it when they talk.

When he finally manages to see something else than a doddle, Jae’s not sure if it’s an effect of the fatigue. First, he sees four paws, and then if he follows the line of one of it there’s a body…

Jae beams. Is it possible that his soulmate mark has been a doe all this time?

“Do you know we’re soulmates?”

Wonpil’s bites his lips to control a chuckle. Jae’s still a little too straightforward, though that maybe it’s also related to how much he had thought about this conversation and the fact that he has barely slept because of it.

They’re in Wonpil’s room right now, with Wonpil sitting on his bed and Jae sitting on the desk’s chair that he’s moved to be closer to Wonpil.

Jae had been at Wonpil’s door as soon as he saw the clock marking the nine in the morning.

Before leaving he took a quick shower in an attempt to clear his noisy thoughts, so his hair is still wet and dripping over the random shirt he had grabbed without looking at his drawer as he didn’t even bother in trying to dry it. Jae had also, as a matter of a fact, rejected his parents’ invitation to sit and have breakfast with them. His mom was calling his name, but Jae was already leaving to go to Wonpil’s house instead.

(Wonpil’s mom had hugged Jae when she saw him in the entrance. She had also apologized to him, which was a little strange, but he accepted her words anyways. Jae had also grown with her in some way, and her hug had been as warm as one of his mom’s).

From where he is sitting right now, Jae can see the space next to Wonpil’s television where it used to be his Wii. It’s empty now. It’s been empty for years.

“Yes, mom told me everything last night” Wonpil replies. When he speaks the laugh escapes from him. His lips are red where he bit them; so red—Jae looks at his doe eyes to avoid getting distracted because of them. “You didn’t get angry?”

Jae hums, “Because they hide it from us?” the boy nods. “At the beginning I was, but then my mom explained it and I… I couldn’t be angry at her. Actually, I don’t think I can be angry at anyone right now.”

Wonpil frowns, “Come again?”

“Yesterday I was in a lot of pain” he tells him. Wonpil wrinkles his nose at that, “but after I knew that you were my soulmate the pain disappeared. Because of you, right?”

“I guess so” Wonpil mumbles. “The pain disappeared for me too when my mom told me about you.”

They stare at each other for some seconds in silence. It’d been the same way when Jae entered to Wonpil’s room before Jae said something.

“Hyung” Wonpil speaks first this time, “do you remember when you asked me who would I choose if I could decide who was my soulmate?”

He’s blushing. Jae’s blushing too. Perhaps all this time that had been a soulmate thing.

“You said you wanted your soulmate to be someone cool” Jae remembers. “Someone like me.”

Wonpil nods. He’s biting his lip again. Jae really has to stop looking at Wonpil’s lips. They’re having an important conversation and he needs to focus on that.

“I can’t believe this is real” Wonpil says, lying backwards on the bed. Jae can only see his chest going up and down as he breaths, not his lips anymore. “I mean, we’ve always like the other a lot and if we think on that then it isn’t that strange” Wonpil points out, staring at the ceiling. Jae feels his cheeks burning at the comment. “We’ve liked each other as friends!” Wonpil adds quickly. He squeals, “Just say something and let’s forget I ever said that!”

Jae giggles because he’s clearly flustered (and he partially feels the same, but of course he’s not showing it), “You’re really stuck with me forever, Piri.”

“Let’s clarify right now that I’m not ever playing Yu-gi-oh again” Wonpil raises one of his fingers, still staring at the ceiling. It makes Jae laugh.

“Okay, no more Yu-gi-oh.”

Wonpil moves his head to see him, “Are you really giving up that easily?”

“You’re a bad player anyways” Jae shrugs. “It’s boring when I play with you.”

“If I remember correctly I won one of our games some days ago” he points out.

Another shrug, “I let you win.”

Wonpil wrinkles his nose. The cutest bunny, Jae thinks, “You can’t lie, hyung, so don’t even try it.”

“I… I can lie!” Jae is lying, and even for him it sounds like the most terrible lie.

Wonpil sits on the bed. He looks at him with his bright doe eyes and Jae feels something jumping inside of him. Have his eyes always been this bright? “Okay, hyung. Tell me that Bakugan is better than Yu-gi-oh.”

Jae scowls, “That’s like the worst example in the world, Wonpil.”

“I know you would never say that, that’s what I’m trying to prove my point!”

Jae scowls again. Just to tease Wonpil, he pulls out a straight face to try it, but he doesn’t say what Wonpil has asked him to. Instead, there’s this: “Do you know what your mark is?”

Wonpil is immediately covering his cheeks with his hands, “What was even that?” he whines.

“I think I know what mine is” Jae gets even closer. The chair hits the border of the bed, but it doesn’t matter when Jae easily stretches his arm until it’s over one of Wonpil’s legs, and pulls up his sleeve so Wonpil can see his mark. It takes Jae some seconds to find the start of one of the paws in the drawing as he did at some point of the night. “Here!” he claims when he finally does, taking Wonpil’s hand and making him touch that part of the line. “There’s a paw here, and then another one and another and another” he moves Wonpil’s hand on his wrist as he speaks, showing him what he’s talking about. “Then it's the body and the head... I’m almost sure it’s a doe!"

“Why a doe?” Jae raises his eyes from his wrist when Wonpil says that. He finds that he’s blushing, and only then Jae thinks in the way he had grabbed his hand. He also blushes because of it (is that really a thing between soulmates? He’s gonna have to ask that to Sungjin later).

Jae lets go Wonpil’s hand to scratch the back of his head. “I’ve always kinda think you have cute doe eyes” he bites his tongue right after he says that. “I meant bright doe eyes!” he corrects himself. Jae groans. Shit, he’s madly blushing right now.

Wonpil is giggling. “It’s okay, hyung. I think you’re cute too!”

“I’m not… “Jae doesn’t even try it this time, simply groaning again. “You know what? Forget it.”

“Answering your question” Wonpil continues, wrinkling his nose at his reaction, “I still don’t know what it is” he moves his own arm so Jae can have a look of his wrist. “Knowing you, it’s surely something like a Yu-gi-oh card, so now I know what to search for.”

“Shut up” Jae pushes him. But he does it with more strength than the one he had wanted it because Wonpil falls backwards in the bed, taking Jae with him in the process as he grabs him from his shirt in an attempt to keep the balance.

They’re laughing together even if Jae is over Wonpil, with the later claiming he can’t breathe because Jae is a giant! Jae moves so he can lie next to him instead. They stare at each other before laughing again.

Being with Wonpil has always been so easy.

“Mom is leaving the next week” Wonpil mumbles only then. Jae grimaces. He hadn’t wanted to mention the topic, but he knew that they eventually had to talk about it. “The company already found a house for us to move out, but she wants to check everything first.”

Jae sighs, “When are you and your dad leaving?”

Wonpil sighs too (maybe it’s really a soulmate thing or maybe they’re simply both as sad as the other right now). “Two weeks after that if there isn't any problem.”

That makes it three weeks then. Three weeks before Wonpil is gone.

Three weeks are not enough.

“That’s very soon” Jae mumbles.

Wonpil moves in the bed, so he’s now using one of his elbows to support his head. His bright doe eyes look really sad. Jae feels sad too. “They really want mom to manage that project” he says. “Dad already told his editors that he’s moving from the city too. And we still need to find a school before the end of the break too.”

Jae feels his sixteen year old crisis abruptly resurfacing because he hates it—he hates that Wonpil has to leave and that they can’t do anything about it.

But seventeen year old Jae is different to the sixteen year old version of his own, and instead of just snarling and complaining, he knows he has to face this situation. So he tells himself to power up, “What are we gonna do, Piri?”

Wonpil puts his other hand, the one he doesn’t have under his head, on his chin. “Mom says that we should talk to each other the most we can.”

Jae sits down at that. The sudden movement in the bed causes Wonpil to fall over his arm, “Okay, I will call you every night.”

“I will call you every morning before I leave for school!” Wonpil exclaims, sitting down too. He seems serious about it. “You better wake up early, Jae hyung. If you don’t answer one of my calls because you’re sleeping I’m going to ask Jinyoung to beat you up.”

Jae beams, “Oh, I can’t wait to wake up at your kind voice, Piri.”

Wonpil is chuckling. “And I can’t wait to fall asleep and dream about your melodic voice, hyung.”

They’re both blushing at that. He’s now going to blush a lot when it comes to Wonpil, Jae thinks. It’d be difficult not to do it so when they keep saying that kind of things around the other.

“I don’t know how often I’m going to be able to visit you” Wonpil adds, as Jae is still a little shocked to say something else. “Mom is going to be busier. And dad… Well, he’s always busy anyways.”

Jae hums. His parents are also busy. When he insisted in continue with his piano classes because Wonpil and Sungjin were doing the same, they made him take the bus to go to the academy by himself when he was old enough to not get lost on his way.

“I’m getting a license and taking my dad’s car as soon as possible” he decides. Jae doesn’t know anything about driving, but that doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t be that difficult, right? And even if it is then Jae is going to do his best to learn it quickly.

Wonpil’s doe eyes get wider, “It’s a five hours trip.”

“I know” Jae nods, “I looked for it when they told me you were leaving. I was planning on visiting anyways.”

Wonpil looks like if he’s about to cry at that. Jae is scared for a second that would happen, but at the end, Wonpil is simply hugging him.

Even if he’s on his house, Wonpil is using perfume. Jae is aware that he’d smell like him if they continue hugging each other.

He thinks that’s fine.

“Are you scared?” Jae asks in the middle of their hug. Wonpil moves his head so he can glance at Jae. His doe eyes are too close. They’re really bright—the brightest Jae has ever seen. “Of what’s going to happen next. We’ve never been that far away from the other.”

Wonpil purses his lips together. “No, I’m not” he decides. Jae frowns at the security he says it with, “I mean, I know the pain is going to be worse than what I’ve ever felt, but I’m definitely not scared because it isn’t like we won’t see each other again. Are you scared, hyung?” Wonpil asks him.

He’s looking at him with the brightest doe eyes and Jae thinks he’s already lost on him, but being lost is also like being at home with him—Wonpil has always felt like home; like an afternoon of games when they were children; like a strange incident with a yellow backpack. Like a whole life growing up together, and a conversation about the sun making someone happy and discussing about soulmates. Because it’s exactly that; it’s been like that since the first time they met each other: Jae and Wonpil were born for each other, after all. They're soulmates.

He looks back at Wonpil. Jae doesn’t know about it yet— he doesn’t know how much they’re both going to cry when it’s time to say goodbye, once he’s helped Wonpil packing all his things and even convinced him to play with him for the last time with his old Yu-gi-oh cards.

He doesn’t know about the pain and how sick he’s going to feel the first days with Wonpil being away (he’s not going to be able to leave his bed and he’s going to cry a lot. He’d call Wonpil only to find out that he’s also crying and they’d both do their best to cheer the other).

Jae doesn’t know about all the early morning and all the late night calls he’s going to have with Wonpil, and how hard is going to be for them to hang up the phone after hours of talking to the other because they’d never have enough of listening to each other’s voice.

He doesn’t know how fast his heart will pound the first weekend their parents take him to see Wonpil in his new house. Wonpil will be smiling, and Jae _really_ has no idea of how he'd realized how much he’s missed his smile until the moment he sees it again.

Jae doesn’t know how Wonpil will give him a tour in the city and take him to a theater that’s now his favorite place in there, and how during the whole play they go to see he’s going to be only glancing at Wonpil because fuck, he missed him so much.

Jae doesn’t know any of that, but what he does know it’s that Wonpil is his soulmate, and there’s nothing he should be worried about because they will always have each other. They’ve always had each other.

“No” he smiles. Wonpil is smiling too. “I think I’m not scared either.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the second part is already uploaded and completed here: [please tell me when you fall in love with your soulmate (i need to know if i'm also in your heart)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25394353/chapters/61580242#workskin)  
> thank you so much for reading! i hope you enjoyed this as much as i did.  
> for any questions or clarifications, you can contact me on twitter: [@dowoonbubbles](https://twitter.com/dowoonbubbles)


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